The Road Less Travelled
by Quack says the T-shape
Summary: Sanada, Fuji, Atobe, Echizen and Tezuka would soon find that their lives were to be intertwined. OT5.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

Hiking helped Tezuka forget.

Back home, the paperwork on his desk and the rigid expectations of his father waited for him, but nothing waited for him here. There was only the mountains, the breeze, and the slow drizzle of rain.

The top was in sight, a few more metres would do it, which was good - as the light was slowly diminishing as the sun set behind him. He'd have to settle down for the night; he had enough food for one more meal, but tomorrow morning he would have to go fishing.

Just as he reached the top, and threw his arms over the ledge to pull himself up, a flash blinded his vision, and he faltered. His vision still obscured, Tezuka heard someone say, "I'm sorry, do you need a hand?", he looked up to see a young man looking down at him apologetically, holding a camera.

"That's not necessary," Tezuka replied, pulling himself up. Once at the top, he looked back to look at the sunset. The man appeared at his side, and started taking more pictures.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Hn."

Tezuka glanced briefly at the man, before moving away from the ledge, and dumping his hiking bag onto the ground. He began to take his sleeping bag out of it, ready to set up for the night. _It's not going to rain tonight_, he thought, deciding he wouldn't need to set up his tent.

Tezuka pulled out his tin of beans, and set about building a fire for the night, which would serve the dual purpose of warming him and cooking his food. Collecting branches and foliage, he heard the man ask from behind him, "building a fire?"

Tezuka nodded, pulling some stones together to surround the firewood he had collected.

"Would you mind if I shared?" the man added. "I'll be staying here too," he said, gesturing to his duffel bag. Tezuka stared at the small bag, much, much smaller than his own. Beside it was a camera bag, half open.

The man was waiting for an answer, so Tezuka nodded in reply.

Tezuka sat at his brushwood, rubbing his sticks together to try and create a spark. The man regarded him with half open lids. Slowly, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it open, and raised an eyebrow at Tezuka. Tezuka merely shook his head in reply, and the man smiled, putting it away.

"I'm Fuji."

Tezuka glanced up at him. "Tezuka."

* * *

Atobe sat at his desk, typing irritably into the computer. He didn't like working on the weekend, but this needed to be in by the end of the day, and he only trusted himself to do it.

"Jiroh, pass the Echizen files."

Silence.

"Jiroh?" Atobe turned his head to see his sleeping assistant slumped over his desk. "See, this is why I'm getting another assistant."

"…wha?"

"Just go back to sleep," Atobe mumbled, glancing across at the files on the other side of Jiroh's desk. Sighing, he picked up his phone, and dialed for the secretary.

"Yes, Atobe-sama?"

"Can you come in here please?"

"In one second, the first applicant for the new assistant vacancy is here, sir."

Atobe blinked. "That was today? What day is it?"

"Monday, sir."

"What?" How had he lost a day? "Fine, fine, send him up."

"Right away, sir."

Placing the phone down, he glanced back at the files tetchily. Perhaps he could will them toward them…? There was no way he was walking on a Monday.

As he thought this, the door opened, and a tall, broad man stood in the doorway.

"Ah, yes… applicant. Pass me those files," Atobe said, pointing to the papers on Jiroh's desk.

The tall man glanced at the sleeping Jiroh, and took the files out from underneath him, passing them across to Atobe. "…These files?"

"Yes," Atobe said, grabbing at them. "Right. Why are you here? Oh, right, the vacancy." He held out his hand expectantly, and the man glanced at it, before placing his CV there.

Atobe looked at the CV, and then glanced over the top of it at the man in front of him. "Sanada?"

"Yes, Atobe-san."

* * *

Tezuka sat before the fire, waiting for his beans to cook, as he glanced over the top with barely concealed anger to see Fuji sitting there, eating a packet of crisps. The crunching was getting on his last nerve, and he was getting hungry, and you _don't eat crisps in the wild_. He glared at the beans, just about beginning to heat up.

Fuji held out the packet. "Crisp?"

"I'm fine."

Silence reigned for another minute, as Fuji continued eating, and Tezuka poked his beans with a stick. Fuji finished eating, and Tezuka looked up at him, thinking to himself that he'd better not litter. Fuji, however, just put the empty packet back into his bag, and retrieved a pack of cigarettes. Pulling one out, he held it over the fire to light it, and placed it into his mouth. He held the pack out toward Tezuka.

Tezuka glared back at him. "I'm fine," he repeated, and watched as Fuji put his packet away.

Fuji blew out a puff of smoke, and looked at Tezuka. "So what brings you here?" Tezuka glanced up at him. "I'm here to take photographs," Fuji continued, nodding at his camera. "The sunrise is meant to be beautiful from here."

"It is," Tezuka replied, and was silent for a moment, before adding, "I like to hike."

Fuji nodded. "Do you usually go alone?"

Tezuka looked up. "Always."

Fuji smiled. "Sorry for disturbing your solitude."

"It's okay."

It went quiet again, and Fuji twiddled with his lit cigarette. "So what d'you do? When you're not hiking up mountains, I mean."

Tezuka smiled slightly at that, but tried to hide it. "I'm an accountant."

"Hn," Fuji said, opening his eyes to stare at him with a piercing gaze. "That doesn't suit you."

Tezuka looked surprised for a moment, and replied, "Most people say it does."

Fuji smiled. "You don't seem like the sort of person who'd be content sitting in an office all day."

Tezuka thought about this for a moment. "What about you?"

"I'm a photographer for a magazine," Fuji answered. "I take pictures of celebrities."

Tezuka paused, contemplating this. "That doesn't suit you."

"No," Fuji smirked slightly to himself. "No it doesn't."

* * *

Atobe glanced over the CV. There was no experience in office work. There were no recommendations from previous employees. There was nothing Atobe could work with, and this was a complete and utter waste of his time. About to throw the man out, a single sentence caught his eye on the page, listed under 'hobbies and interests'. 'Tango and Salsa, and classical music'. Atobe looked at it for a moment, before looking back at Sanada.

"You like salsa, tango and classical music?" he asked him.

Sanada nodded, and asked in reply, "do you?"

Nodding absently, Atobe stared at the page, thinking of all the interviews he'd have to do. And how many of them would have the same interests as him? Very few, he was sure. He didn't have time for interviews anyway; he had to get this file sorted.

"Fine, fine, you're hired. I'll get you a desk tomorrow," Atobe said. "Jiroh will explain to you -" He glanced over at the sleeping Jiroh. He looked back at Sanada. "Wake him."

Stiffly, Sanada moved over to Jiroh, and pushed him slightly.

Atobe looked at him. "That," he pointed, "is pathetic."

Sanada glared at him, and shoved Jiroh once more, this time harder. Jiroh fell off his chair, and landed with a thud on the floor. Atobe smiled, "much better."

He looked down at the now awake - and thoroughly disgruntled - Jiroh. "Show Sanada the ropes. And tell the secretary to cancel all other interviews."

Jiroh nodded, and looked toward Sanada. "Tell the secretary to -"

"No, Jiroh, he is not _your _assistant, he is my _other _assistant," Atobe said to him. "Now be gone, I need to get started on these." 

* * *

Dodging through the bustling airport, the boy reached the animal control sector that the lady at the check-in had pointed out to him. The cat in the basket he carried meowed loudly, and the boy hushed it.

It continued to meow, and the boy mumbled, "It's only for a few hours," which was an obvious lie, as the flight from New York to Tokyo was at least ten hours. Giving his flight details to the attending, he heard them echoed with the announcement that informed him his flight was due to leave in 20 minutes. He said his farewells to Karupin, his cat, and headed toward the departure gate, ready to finally return to Japan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

Holding two coffees, Fuji walked through the busy streets of Tokyo, heading toward a branch of Citibank, where he'd discovered Tezuka worked. He'd been prepared to spend hours pouring over the internet to track down the man he'd met in the mountains, but after just typing his full name into google, had found out the address of the exact branch where he worked, and what days he worked there too. He'd known the man would be retuning to work today - as he'd said he'd stay a week longer hiking while Fuji had to return after just the weekend for work.

Today he was taking a morning off, before he went to be interviewed for some independent work. He wanted to talk to Tezuka, because even after spending a weekend together found that he didn't really know much about him. But this was to be expected, Tezuka didn't seem one for conversation, especially about himself. Fuji smiled to himself: he didn't like to talk about himself either.

He walked into the branch, and up to the reception desk. "Would you mind telling me where the office of Tezuka Kunimitsu is, please?"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes," Fuji replied, smiling.

"Oh, you must be Oshitari-san," the secretary said, brightly.

Fuji beamed. "Why yes I am."

"Very well, he's expecting you. His office is on the first floor, second door to the left."

"Thank you," Fuji said, heading toward the staircase. Climbing up the stairs, he entered the long corridor of the first floor, and headed toward Tezuka's office. Knocking on the open door, he saw the accountant look up in surprise.

"Fuji…?"

"Tezuka," Fuji replied, brightly. "Coffee?"

"But, I…"

"I went to Starbucks especially," Fuji said, thrusting the coffee in his face. He lowered his gaze. "Drink your coffee, Tezuka."

Tezuka paused and nodded, taking the coffee and sipping hesitantly. He glanced up. "It's good."

"I know, I made it myself."

Tezuka raised an eyebrow. "I though you went to Starbucks?"

"Anyway, how are things?" Fuji asked, delving into his pocket for his cigarettes and lighter.

Tezuka watched him warily. "You're not allowed to smoke in here."

"I know," Fuji replied, taking a long drag.

"_Fuji _-"

"Who's Oshitari-san?"

Tezuka blinked. "I went to University with him."

"Ah, the secretary asked if I was him. I said yes."

Tezuka glared at him, but Fuji was either oblivious or didn't care. Instead, he continued, "wanna do lunch?"

"I have a meeting with Oshitari-san."

"He can come," Fuji suggested, waving his hand flippantly.

"No, Fuji, we're discussing business."

"I don't mind."

"_I do_," Tezuka insisted. As he said this, the phone rang, and - sighing - Tezuka hit the speaker button.

"Yes?"

"Um, Tezuka-san, there's a man here claiming that he's Oshitari-san."

Fuji chuckled to himself. Tezuka glared at him.

"Yes, send him up."

"Very well."

Tezuka looked across at Fuji. "I can do lunch tomorrow?"

"Fine, I suppose that'll do," Fuji said, standing. "I'll come around one."

As he walked down the corridor to leave, he passed a tall bespectacled man.

"Oshitari-san," Fuji said, nodding toward him, enjoying the puzzled look he received in return.

------------------------

Sanada sighed as he hung up the phone, and waited for the inevitable, "Well?" from Atobe.

Looking up at him, Sanada replied, "Mukahi-san, his secretary, says he's in a meeting."

Atobe glared at Sanada. "And _why_ is he in a meeting?"

Sanada shrugged his shoulders. Atobe continued to glare. "I'm not gonna ring him to find out," Sanada stated. "It doesn't matter. Oshitari's just not there."

Atobe sat there, grumbling to himself. Sanada sighed again, looking at the vast amount of paperwork he had to do. It didn't seem likely that Jiroh would help him, he thought, sparing a glance at the sleeping blond. He now saw why it was necessary for Atobe to have two assistants.

"Why don't you fire him?"

Atobe glanced up at Sanada. "Who?"

"Jiroh," he said, jerking his thumb at the snoring assistant. "He's never awake."

"We went to school together," Atobe answered.

Sanada shrugged, "So?"

Atobe glared at him. "Who else do you think would hire him? It's easier he stays here and sleeps."

"I could try and wake him up," Sanada suggested.

Atobe smirked. "You just don't want to do that by yourself." He looked at the mounds of paper piled up on Sanada's desk.

"I'm not exactly an expert on paperwork."

"I've noticed," Atobe said, fixing him with another glare.

"Well, why did you hire me then?"

"Why did you apply?"

The two glared at each other in silence, before returning to their work. Jiroh slept on.

-------------------------

"Why, _why_ would you let Jiroh arrange my schedule?" Atobe yelled, glaring at Sanada.

"I don't know how to arrange it."

"I have been scheduled to have a meeting with the new face of our company, whilst also choosing who will photograph him. I can do many things, but even _I_ cannot do two things at once."

"Why are you yelling at me?" Sanada retorted. "He's the one who did it."

"But you are awake, and thus in charge," Atobe answered. "Now, as I meet this tennis player, you go choose a photographer. They're waiting down in reception. And while you're there, send up the tennis player."

"How do I know who the tennis player is?"

"He'll be holding a racket, Sanada," Atobe snapped. "I pay you to have initiative. Go."

"But -"

"_Go_."

Glaring at his boss, Sanada stormed out of the office.

-------------------

Fuji watched as the tense mood of the lounge was only broken by the constant pacing of a fellow photographer. He hummed as he glanced around, eyes widening in recognition of a boy sitting in the corner of the room, hat tilted down over his face.

Fuji had never followed tennis closely, but even he had heard of the young and rising athlete, Echizen Ryoma. Wondering how long it'd be until he was called up, Fuji looked up to see a tall man enter. The man walked up to Echizen, and Fuji heard the short conversation of, "Tennis?" "Yes", "Come with me", as the tall man pointed Echizen in the direction he'd just come from. After this, the man looked up at the photographers, a look of dread in his eyes.

"Photographers?"

The group flinched and jumped to attention. Fuji looked on with amusement.

"I'm Sanada. Please form a queue," he glanced around. "Here."

They scrambled to form a line, as Fuji slowly stood and placed himself at the back. He looked to the front of the line, to see Sanada taking a brief look at each portfolio, before giving it back and saying "next". It wasn't long before only Fuji remained.

Grabbing at Fuji's portfolio, Sanada flicked through it, glancing at each photo quickly. Fuji could see that the man didn't appear particularly impressed by his celebrity prints, but then Sanada stopped on the image of Tezuka, standing before a setting sun. Sanada stared at it for a few moments, before slamming the portfolio closed, and saying, "You, stay." He turned to the others waiting for the verdict. "All you, go."

Fuji smiled.

---------------------

"So we've already worked out all the details with your agent," Atobe said to Echizen, "and you'll be going off for a photo shoot soon."

"Right," Echizen replied, slipping his hat further down on his face. Atobe twitched, slightly.

"Echizen."

"Hn."

"Echizen. Look at me."

Groaning, Echizen did as he was told, watching Atobe slowly.

"What?"

Atobe huffed slightly, before handing him a file. "That's your contract; get your agent to look over it and then sign."

Echizen grabbed a pen off Atobe's desk and began signing it. Atobe glared in reply, "Fine then."

As he said that, the door opened, and the assistant Echizen had met earlier appeared.

"I got a photographer."

Atobe looked at him. "And he is…?"

The man glanced at a piece of paper in his hand. "Fuji Syuusuke."

Atobe rolled his eyes. "Where is he, Sanada?"

Sanada sighed, and went to leave.

"This Fuji will be taking your picture," Atobe told Echizen. "We're not sure where or when, but soon."

"Sure," Echizen replied, and the door opened again.

"Ah, so you must be Fuji," Atobe greeted the new man Sanada had brought up, before glaring back at Sanada. "Did you wear your hat down there?"

Sanada snorted. "I wore my hat during the interviews."

Atobe glared at him. "You can't wear a hat. You're representing Atobe Enterprises."

Sanada glared at him. "He's wearing a hat," he said, gesturing at Echizen.

"He is an athlete, you push paper," Atobe snapped. "It's not even sunny. There are no windows." He waved around.

"Wha?"

"Go to sleep, Jiroh."

Echizen noticed for the first time that there was a sleeping blonde on the other desk, and began to wonder what his agent had gotten him into.

As the two continued to bicker, the photographer turned toward Echizen with a smile. "So, tennis, eh?"

Echizen glared at him before looking away. But the man continued to smile at him.

"My brother plays tennis, Fuji Yuuta; have you met him on the circuits in the West?"

Echizen blinked, trying to think. "The name rings a bell."

Fuji's eyes snapped open, and he looked toward the tennis player. "He's in the media a lot."

Echizen nodded and turned away, back toward the two men who were still arguing.

"Can I leave now?"

Atobe spared a glance toward him. "We'll contact you about the photo shoot soon. And a press conference too."

Sanada mumbled "I bet he's allowed to wear a hat at the press conference" as Echizen left the room.

"He's an _icon_, Sanada. He's allowed to wear a hat. It's his _thing_. You don't have a thing."

Leaving the office, Echizen pulled out his phone to call his agent.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

Atobe flicked through Fuji's portfolio, angrily passing over the various celebrity shots, only looking up to glare at Sanada with his 'how-could-you-choose-this' look in his eyes. The shots weren't bad, per se, they just weren't up to Atobe's standard.

He continued flicking, but then stopped when he saw a picture of a man standing in front of a sunset. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then heard the photographer opposite say, "That's Tezuka."

Atobe glanced up at him.

"I met him in the mountains," Fuji added, smiling.

Atobe nodded, and glanced up at Sanada to see him smirking, with a 'that's-why-I-chose-him' look. Atobe continued looking at the photos, and saw there were various other shots of the mountain range, but no more of the man.

"Is this place close?"

Fuji nodded. "Yeah, not too far."

"Excellent, we'll do the shoot there."

Fuji smiled. Atobe turned to Sanada, "Arrange a helicopter to fly them in."

Sanada looked at him. "Arrange a what now?"

Atobe glared at him.

"I'll make my own way there," Fuji said to him.

Atobe regarded him, and nodded. "We'll do it this Saturday then, starting at eleven." He turned to his assistant. "_Helicopter_, Sanada."

"I'll be going then," Fuji said, taking his portfolio back from the desk.

"I'll phone you later with more details," Atobe said, before pausing. "Well, he will," he gestured at Sanada.

"I thought I was getting a helicopter."

The sleeping boy on the next desk blearily opened his eyes and said, "I thought you had a helicopter…"

"You have a helicopter?" Sanada asked him.

"You're not using it," Atobe snapped at him. "Go hire one. Oh, and you're going."

"I'm what?" Sanada said, as Fuji closed the door and left. Atobe sighed.

---------------------

The next day, Fuji arrived promptly at one to go meet Tezuka. He opened the door of the building, and smiled toward the secretary. He planned to just walk past her, when she called out toward him.

"Um… sir, Oshitari-san, I'm afraid that you can't see Tezuka-san at the moment."

Fuji turned toward her. "But I have an appointment."

Confused, the secretary looked at her computer for a moment. "Um… no, he only has an appointment with a Fuji Syuusuke."

"Yes, that's me," Fuji answered, smiling at her.

"But I thought you were Oshitari-san -"

"No. You presumed I was."

"But -"

Fuji had already entered the stairwell, and was making his way up to the first floor. When he reached Tezuka's office, he strolled in with a smile. "Ready to go?"

Tezuka glanced up from his work and nodded.

----------------------------

The place Fuji had brought Tezuka to was small, but cosy. It was very traditionally decorated, and had a homely environment. As they sat down at a table, a man walked out from behind the bar, and came up to them smiling.

"Fuji!" he said brightly.

"Taka-san," Fuji replied. "How are you?"

"I'm fine thanks, you?" Taka answered. He glanced across at Tezuka whilst Fuji answered him.

"This is my friend, Tezuka," Fuji said, gesturing toward the accountant. "Tezuka, this is my old school friend, Takashi."

Tezuka nodded at the waiter.

"How's your work?" Taka asked, looking slightly concerned. But Fuji didn't seem worried when he replied with a smile, "I got some independent work yesterday, so it's been good."

Taka looked relieved and nodded, before giving them menus and excusing himself to the bar.

"Independent work?" Tezuka asked him.

Fuji smiled. "I'll be working in the place that we met actually." Tezuka looked surprised, and Fuji continued, "I'll be taking pictures of that new tennis player, Echizen Ryoma."

Tezuka nodded in acknowledgement. "I've seen his matches. He has a lot of potential."

"Really? So, do you want to come up? I'm hiking," Fuji told him. "I kind of assumed you'd come with me; it's a weekend and I'm not that good at hiking."

Tezuka hesitated, but the opportunity to hike again was too large to miss, so he nodded. "I guess."

"Excellent," Fuji replied. "It starts at eleven, so should we leave at nine?"

Tezuka looked at him. "Maybe eight."

-----------------------------

Oshitari rapped on Atobe's door, before entering, without waiting for a response. Atobe was sitting at his desk, and looked up angrily.

"Yuushi, I needed you _yesterday_. There were forms to be signed. Luckily, I had Sanada sign them instead, but if he hadn't been here -"

"Wait," the man called Sanada said from his desk. "You said that was my contract."

"You already signed your contract, you signed it on the first day," Atobe retorted, before diverting his attention back to Oshitari. "You're lucky nobody looks at these things. As my lawyer, you need to be ready to meet my every whim, when and where it needs to be met."

"I was meeting with an old Uni friend, he's an accountant, and a good one. I was trying to get him to sort out your finances," Oshitari explained. "But he refused."

"Then it was not important," Atobe replied, turning to his assistant. "Sanada, go get me Starbucks."

Sanada didn't look up from his work and replied, "No." Oshitari raised as eyebrow, surprised to see someone arguing with Atobe. What surprised him even more was that Atobe seemed to let him.

"Sanada. Just get me my mocha latte."

Still, Sanada didn't look up. "Make Jiroh get it."

"Jiroh's sleeping."

"Jiroh's always sleeping."

The two glared at each other, before Atobe said, "Fine. You can get yourself a tea."

"Fine," Sanada answered, standing. Taking Atobe's credit card, he left to do as his boss had asked.

"And don't wear that hat whilst you use my credit card."

Sanada glared at him from the door, and slammed it shut, not removing said hat.

Atobe turned toward Oshitari. "He won't remove the hat."

Oshitari kept staring at him, with his eyebrow raised. "What?" Atobe asked.

"You never take that much crap from anyone," Oshitari pointed out. "Let alone your workforce."

Atobe paused, and then shrugged. Changing the subject, he asked, "How are you and your slut secretary?"

Oshitari smiled. "Me and my slut secretary are fine." Atobe snorted. "At least I have a slut," Oshitari added.

Atobe rolled his eyes. "I do not need a slut. Not to mention a bratty red-headed one."

Oshitari got up, and glanced across at him. "Are we done here?" He received a glare in return, and a stiff nod. As he exited and went to return to his office, he passed an annoyed looking Sanada, still wearing his hat, and smirked at him.

"Did you get cream on top of his mocha latte?" Sanada froze, and then cursed and turned back around to get a mocha latte with cream.

Oshitari walked away, still smirking.

-----------------------

"So… what is Atobe Enterprises anyway?" Echizen asked his agent, Momo.

"It's the biggest company in Japan," Momo told him, but Echizen just shook his head. "They do _everything_."

"Whatever," Echizen mumbled, taking a sip of his Ponta.

"You should kiss my arse for getting you this deal!" Momo added, but Echizen still didn't look all that impressed. "Your face will be _everywhere_." He paused, sighing. "Who did you meet with, anyway?"

"Err… I think the main guy," Echizen answered.

"… Atobe Keigo?"

"Yeah, that's the one," Echizen muttered.

"Oh crap, I didn't know you were meeting with _him_," he groaned. "Tell me you didn't act like you normally do."

Echizen gave him his 'I-don't-care' look.

"See, that!" Momo cried. "Tell me you didn't do that."

Echizen scoffed, and pulled his cap further down over his face.

"Or that!" Momo added. "Oh, crap… well I haven't had a phone call cancelling it. You have to play nice with the bosses. I hope they let us know soon what you're doing."

"I've got a photo shoot on Saturday," Echizen told him, flippantly. Momo's eyes widened.

"What? Where are the papers?"

"Signed them."

Echizen could swear Momo nearly fell off his chair. "That's not the way it works!"

Echizen shrugged, "I don't see what the big deal is. It's not like it's a match."

"Ryoma, this is bigger than a match!"

Echizen glared at him. "_Nothing _is bigger than a match."

"I just hope nothing goes wrong," Momo said, and Echizen began to think about his earlier meeting with Atobe, his bickering assistant, and that photographer. "Yeah…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

Echizen glanced across at the grumbling man next to him. He had formerly introduced himself as Sanada Genichirou, Atobe's assistant, and said he was there to accompany Echizen during the photo shoot. And then he'd sat in the helicopter and grumbled to himself the entire journey about stupid bosses and mountains and photos.

The helicopter began to descend, and the pilot - Hiyoshi - told them that they would arrive in ten minutes. Echizen looked out of the window, to gaze at the surroundings, when two moving figures caught his eye. They appeared to be hiking up toward where they would be landing, and he presumed that one of them was the photographer.

They landed, and exited the helicopter, settling onto the rocky ground below. Echizen stumbled as he left the aircraft, his legs shaking slightly. He'd never minded aeroplanes, but helicopters were completely different things. He sat himself down on a nearby rock, glad to finally be out of the air.

He flinched, as a hand rested itself on his shoulder. Looking up, he caught Sanada's eye. "Are you okay?"

Echizen blinked, and nodded. The hand lingered on his shoulder a moment longer, before Sanada's phone cut through the silence, and he reached into his pocket to answer it. Sanada looked at the name, and growled.

"Hello. Yes. Yes. No. Yes. Why would that happen? Whatever. No, I'm not there, and there's no Starbucks in the mountains," he hung up, groaning to himself. They glanced at one another, before they heard the cheerful voice of the photographer cut over them.

"Hellooooooo, isn't it wonderful how everything echoes here, Tezuka?"

"Hn."

Echizen looked back to Sanada, who was staring at the man beside the photographer - who he presumed to be Tezuka - a glint in his eye.

"Ah, Sanada and Echizen," the photographer said. "I brought along my friend Tezuka, I hope you don't mind."

"Sure, Fuji-san," Sanada answered.

"Just Fuji, please," Fuji said, before turning his eyes widely to Echizen. "Ah, _you_."

Echizen froze. "Err -"

"I want you _here_," Fuji pointed at the rock face. He glanced across at Sanada. "What clothes did you bring?"

Sanada retrieved a pile of clothes from the helicopter. "There's some tennis gear, and smart clothing, a suit -"

"Well, whatever he's most comfortable in," Fuji said dismissively, staring at the spot where he planned to put Echizen, intently. Echizen grabbed his sports clothes from the pile, before glancing around, looking for somewhere to change.

"Right, you can change here," Fuji told him, pointing directly in front of them.

Echizen's eyes widened slightly.

"You can change over there," Sanada told him, pointing toward the bushes. Nodding, Echizen moved toward them.

Hiyoshi brought the last bags out of the helicopter. "Is that everything?" Sanada nodded toward him. "Alright, I'll be off. I'll be back at seven to get you." With that, he returned to his helicopter, and flew off.

Having quickly changed, Echizen moved back out, dumping the clothes he'd been wearing before back on the ground.

"Ah, Ryoma, may I call you Ryoma?" Fuji asked, grabbing the boy without waiting for a reply. "Ryoma, stand _here_. Perfect."

With a smile, Fuji took his camera out of its case. "Let's get started."

----------------------

Watching the photo shoot unfold before them, Sanada and Tezuka sat together on a large rock.

"So, you're close to Fuji?" Sanada asked the stoic man beside him.

"I've known him two weeks."

"Oh," said Sanada, surprised. "But you've been up here before with him."

"We kind of bumped into each other," Tezuka paused, regarding his words. "But how do you know?"

"I saw the photo."

Tezuka's eyes widened. "Photo?"

"Yeah, of you in the sunset."

The brunette vaguely recalled the blinding flash as he'd climbed over the ledge.

"_Fuji_."

The photographer turned toward him. "Yes?"

"You've been showing my picture to people?"

"Sshhh, Tezuka, I'm working," Fuji dismissed, continuing to take photos of the tennis player.

"It's in his portfolio," Sanada added to Tezuka, whose glare darkened.

"_Fuji_."

"Working."

Amused by the interaction before him, Sanada nearly missed his boss' phone call. He managed to get to it in time, though, and asked, "Hello?"

"Sanada, Jiroh's sleeping."

"You sound surprised," Sanada answered. He could almost hear Atobe's glare down the phone.

"Don't get smart with me. He's sleeping, and I don't have people to do my stuff."

"_You _sent me into the mountains."

"Yes, well, you should've taken things into account before you left. Jiroh's sleeping and I don't have my latte. I _need _my latte."

"How about… _you_ get it?"

Atobe snorted as if this was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. "Do Starbucks deliver?"

"I don't know."

"Hn. They do now," Atobe said, before ringing off.

"Whatever," Sanada mumbled, placing his phone back into his pocket.

-------------------------

Atobe sat at his desk, staring off into space. In front of him, Oshitari laughed to himself.

"How did you survive without him…?"

"Shut up. Go away. Jiroh, wake up."

Jiroh didn't even bother to stir.

"Jiroh, now you're just becoming complacent."

His phone rang, and Atobe grabbed at it, pulling it to his ear. "Yes?"

"It's Starbucks, sir. They've arrived."

"Thank _god_," Atobe said, standing up and heading for the door.

"Going yourself?" Oshitari asked. "This is serious."

All he received was a glare in return.

--------------------

_I got my latte. _

Sanada stared down at the text on his phone, shaking his head. "So?" he mumbled, although he had a slight smile on his face. Tezuka glanced across at him, and Sanada looked up. "It's my boss. Again."

"Oh," Tezuka said. "Atobe, right?"

"Yeah," Sanada answered. "He's spoilt and selfish."

"I nearly started working for him," Tezuka continued.

"Don't." Sanada looked straight at him. "Seriously, _don't_."

"I didn't, I'm fine where I am."

"What d'you do?" Sanada asked.

"I'm an accountant."

"Really?" Sanada asked. "That doesn't seem right."

"Fuji said that too," Tezuka told him, softly. "But it pays the bills. Anyway, you don't exactly seem like an assistant."

"Well, it pays the bills," he echoed, glancing across at Tezuka. Tezuka smiled slightly, and nodded, before hearing the yell of, "Bend over further, further, further. Come on, Ryoma, _further_."

"Fuji," Tezuka warned him.

Fuji turned around to him. "…But he can go further." He looked back at Echizen. "_Further_."

"_Fuji_." this time it was from Sanada.

Fuji smiled. "Okay, Ryoma, you can get up." Echizen stood upright, glaring at the photographer. "I planned to stop for lunch, anyway," Fuji added, brightly. "I brought sushi."

--------------------

"It's not working," Fuji sighed.

Echizen readjusted himself out of the position that Fuji had just spent fifteen minutes putting him in. "What do you mean, 'it's not working'?"

"I mean this light," Fuji sighed at the sky. "I just… don't see it. No, we are definitely shooting this all wrong." He pulled a cigarette out from behind his ear, and took his lighter out of his pocket.

Echizen glared darkly at the photographer. "What d'you want me to do? Change the sky?"

Fuji lit his cigarette, and suddenly smiled. "That's brilliant, Ryoma. I knew you were here for a reason," he ignored the glare the tennis player was giving him. He turned toward Sanada and Tezuka, who were chatting amiably behind him. "We'll shoot at sunset!"

"What?" Sanada asked. "That's stupid."

"Yes, you're right. It'll be safest to shoot at sun_rise_ as well." Fuji looked at the sky dreamily. "Most definitely."

"So we'll be staying the night?" Sanada questioned. "But we didn't bring anything."

"…Is this why you asked me to bring three sleeping bags?" Tezuka asked.

Sanada glared at Fuji. "You planned this."

"_No_. I was just… prepared."

"But, you only have three sleeping bags, and there's four of us…" Echizen pointed out.

"I suppose we'll just have to share, I don't mind who I'll be bunking with," Fuji said. He turned toward the tennis player. "You're the smallest."

"Err…" Echizen said, turning wild eyes toward Sanada and Tezuka.

"Fuji," Tezuka began.

"Fine, I'll share with you, Tezuka," Fuji told him, smiling. Sanada sighed, mumbling, "Guess I'd better call Atobe."

---------------------

Atobe sat in his office, sipping at his mocha latte, a proud look on his face. Yes, he'd managed to get his latte. Without Sanada's help. All by himself. See, he was capable. He wasn't dependent. He was a strong human being.

The phone rang, and calmly Atobe answered it.

"Hello?"

"Atobe, its Sanada. Can you call Hiyoshi and tell him he doesn't need to come get us yet."

"I am not _your _assistant, Sanada, you are _my _assistant," Atobe told him, before he took in what Sanada had said. "Wait, what do you mean he doesn't need to come get you?"

"Not until morning, Fuji wants to get shots of Echizen at sunset and sunrise," Sanada told him, with a sigh.

"So… you won't be back until tomorrow?"

"I guess."

"…Afternoon?"

"Yeah." Suddenly, all the chilled composure Atobe had regained was lost.

"But what about my morning latte?"

"You got it today, I'm sure you'll manage." He paused, and Atobe was sure Sanada could hear his heartbeat. "Look, it's not like I want to be up here."

"So you want to come back? Because I can arrange that -"

"No, it's fine," Sanada replied. "It's quite peaceful here."

"But, well, fine. Have fun with your peace." He hung up, glaring at nothing.

A yawn beside him alerted him to the fact that Jiroh had woken up.

"Ah, is it clocking out time?"

Atobe glared at him. "Now, now you wake up?"

Jiroh smiled, sleepily. "Yup…"

"Fine. Don't turn up tomorrow morning unless you have a latte."

"But, Atobe, I don't like lattes -"

"For me. _Me._"Atobe collapsed over his desk. It was gonna be a long night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five**

_Hiyoshi's coming for you at nine. I expect you back at ten. _

Sanada glared at the text for a moment, before typing his reply.

_The flight takes at least an hour. I'll be back by twelve._

Sanada placed his phone back down, and got to opening his sleeping bag. A moment later, however, he was interrupted by another text.

_I don't need you to get my latte. Jiroh's getting my latte._

Before he knew it, a smile had crept onto his face, and a giant flash had blinded him. Sanada looked up with a glare, to see Fuji standing there, camera in hand.

"Who are you texting?" he asked.

"No-one," Sanada insisted, but when Tezuka walked past he mumbled "Atobe".

"Ah," Fuji replied, smiling to himself. "Is that why you looked so gleeful?"

Sanada's glare darkened. "I do _not _look gleeful."

Fuji paused to look at his camera, and glance at the photo he'd just taken. "Yeah, you do."

Trying to change the subject, Sanada looked around. "Where's Echizen?"

"Napping over there," Fuji answered, gesturing to the tennis player who was asleep under a tree. "He's had a _long _day."

Sanada raised an eyebrow, as Fuji sat down beside him.

"So, why are you Atobe's assistant?" Fuji asked him.

Sanada shrugged. "Pay's good."

"But you don't have the build for it," Fuji pointed out, gaze sweeping up and down Sanada's muscled body.

"I used to teach Kendo," the taller man answered.

"Well, why did you give that up?"

"The pay _isn't _good," Sanada answered. Fuji's eyes opened slightly, as he turned to look at him.

"Why d'you need the money so much?"

Sanada didn't answer, and there was silence until the two could make out the sound of Echizen's voice. The two turned to see the tennis player standing up, yelling into his phone. This continued for a short while, before Echizen hung up, and stormed over toward them.

Tezuka paused his previous actions, making a fire, to watch Echizen stomp over to Sanada, and say, "We're leaving."

"What?" Sanada retorted. "How d'you suppose we're doing that?"

"Helicopter," Echizen snapped, his eyes dark. "We're leaving."

"But Ryoma, we need the shots -"

"What's wrong?" Sanada interrupted Fuji, looking at the angry boy before him.

"Helicopter. _Call_."

"But why?"

Echizen glared at the questioning Sanada. "What does it matter why? I'm not having my picture taken again."

"But what happened?"

"Something's… _missing_," Echizen answered, vaguely. "So we need to find it. With a helicopter. _Go_."

"How big is this thing that we can find it in a helicopter?"

Echizen paused, and reluctantly held up his arms, pulling them about two feet apart.

Sanada raised an eyebrow. "What _is _it?"

"It's my cat, okay!" Echizen snapped. "He's missing, and my agent can't find him."

Fuji held a hand to his heart. "Awww." Echizen glared at him.

"We don't have to be there to search for your cat," Sanada said, ignoring Echizen's darkened glare. "I'll call my boss. We can arrange for people to look for him."

"Well… he's white, and fluffy… with brown ears, face, tail and feet… and he answers to Karupin. _Only_. And don't get Momo involved; Momo _lost him_."

"Who's Momo?" Tezuka asked.

"My agent," Echizen answered. "My stupid, _stupid _agent."

"Fine, I'll give Atobe a call."

-----------------------

Atobe sat at his desk, staring forlornly at the wall opposite. His gaze wandered over to Jiroh, who was snoring beside him.

"Jiroh?" he poked the sleeping man with a pencil. "Jiroh? You are very unresponsive today. You're becoming even more complacent; surely in Sanada's absence you can … un-complacent… yourself…"

The phone rang, and - sighing - Atobe answered it. "Yes?"

"You need to find Echizen's cat."

Atobe paused. "What?"

"Echizen's cat's gone missing," Sanada repeated. "Can you send people out to look for him?"

Atobe contemplated this. "Will you get me coffee if I do?"

"What? I'm in the mountains."

"Then I'm not looking for the cat." And with that, Atobe hung up. There was a moment before the phone rang again.

"Yes?"

"Atobe, you're sponsoring him. He refuses to work. He won't have his picture taken. He's whining. Find the damn cat."

"So you'll listen to his whining, but not my -"

"_Atobe_."

"Fine. I'll look for the cat. I'll set up an international cat search. Is that what you want, Sanada? Is that what you want?"

"Yes. Now, the cat is white, with patches of brown, and fluffy. He's a Himalayan cat, and Echizen's complaining 'cause he needs to be brushed like, three times a day. So when you find him… brush him."

"Really? What a high maintenance cat."

"Well you're a high maintenance person. Now find the cat."

-------------------------------

"Ryoma, I know your cat's missing… but can you look any different from 'gloomy'?" Fuji asked, snapping shots of the sullen boy, sitting on a rock before the sunset. "Okay, yes, angry is _better_, but could we try something a little less negative?" Fuji took the camera away from his face, and looked at the boy. "Ryoma, gloomy and angry don't sell. Passion sells, but you're not intense, you're just pissed."

"Just stop, Fuji, he doesn't want to do it," Tezuka said, sitting beside Sanada at the fire.

Fuji sighed. "But the light…" he trailed off, reaching into his bag, before pulling out a flask. He held it out to Tezuka. "Coffee?"

"Where did that coffee come from?" Sanada asked.

Fuji just smiled and pushed it further forward.

"Just have it, it's actually quite nice," Tezuka said. "He brings me some every morning."

Fuji began to pour the coffee out into cups, and held one up to a glaring Echizen. "Coffee?" Echizen's glare continued. "Coffee will make you better."

Reluctantly, Echizen took the coffee, and turned to look at Sanada. "Phone your boss and ask about Karupin."

"No," Sanada replied.

"What?"

Sanada looked at him. "I am _not _phoning Atobe."

Fuji pressed a coffee into his hand. "Have you had a tiff?"

"_Fuji_."

"Yes, yes, Tezuka," he said, then handing the stoic man his coffee. Sanada's phone rang, and he pulled it to his ear.

"Found the cat?" Sanada rolled his eyes. "No, no, still no Starbucks in the mountains. Cat? Good. Yeah, I'll tell him." Hanging up, he turned to Echizen. "They found your cat. He was in the park, at the top of a tree. The fire brigade got him."

Fuji sighed, looking up at the sky. "And the sun just set..." He fixed his eyes upon Echizen. "But don't worry, there's always sunrise."

"We should probably turn in for the night," said Tezuka, voice of reason. "Since we have to be up so early in the morning."

"Yes, yes, that'd make sense," Fuji agreed, putting away all of his camera equipment as the other three each got a sleeping bag. Smiling, Fuji stood up, and looked around at them. "Right, who's sharing with me tonight?"

There was silence, as none of them answered.

"Alright, Ryoma it is," Fuji said, brightly. "That way we can wake up early without disturbing anyone. It'll just be you, me, and the sunrise."

Echizen shuffled toward Sanada, sending a panicked glance his way.

"Fuji, you can have your own sleeping bag. I'll stay with Echizen," Sanada suggested.

Fuji looked despondent, but still took the sleeping bag off of the tennis player, winking at him before retiring to sleep.

-------------------------

_Did you bring camping equipment? Because I was sure you didn't have camping equipment. _

Sanada glared at the text, but didn't bother replying, and just fell back asleep.

----------------------

An hour later, his phone buzzed again.

_Are you sleeping? Is it uncomfortable? Want me to helicopter you some pillows?_

Sanada glared, as he texted back.

_Atobe, it's 2AM. Go to sleep._

There was a brief pause before his phone buzzed.

_I can't. I had five lattes. _

Echizen grumbled, and whacked Sanada's chest, murmuring a "shut up".

_Look, Atobe, stop texting me or you'll wake Echizen. _

He lay back down, thinking that would be the last of it, but nevertheless his phone buzzed once more.

_Why is Echizen near enough to you to hear the buzzing? _

Sanada didn't reply, and switched his phone off, nestling down into his sleeping bag.

_-----------------------_

_Sanada, why is your phone off? _

_Sanada. Phone. On. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

"Ah, me and Tezuka will be leaving now." Fuji told Sanada and Echizen. "I'll develop the photographs, and send Atobe the best ones."

Sanada nodded, and him and Echizen turned to enter the helicopter that had just arrived, while Fuji and Tezuka began their hike home.

"Sanada and Ryoma are cute, aren't they?" Tezuka sent him a look, and Fuji smiled.

---------------------------

Sanada entered Atobe's office, Echizen at his side, to see Atobe sitting at his desk, staring at a sleeping Karupin lying on a sleeping Jiroh. He turned to glare at Sanada as he entered, and pointed accusingly at the cat.

"Karupin!" Echizen said, and the cat awoke, and leapt onto his owner. He meowed loudly.

Atobe sent a dark glare at Sanada. "D'you know how many men I had out looking for that damn cat, and he was in a tree?"

Sanada held out a Starbucks cup. "Latte."

Atobe looked at it warily. "Is there cream…?"

Sanada rolled his eyes and nodded, as his boss took the drink.

"Right, I'll be heading off now," Echizen said, cat in his arms, as he moved towards the door.

"Wait, Echizen," Atobe said. "Next week we're holding a Sponsorship launch. There'll be a meal, and then a party afterwards."

"I don't want to come."

"It wasn't optional," Atobe snapped. "It's _your_sponsorship launch. We're sponsoring _you_. And after all the trouble Sanada's going to go through to arrange it." He ignored Sanada's 'what?'. "Besides, I've already spoken to your agent, and he said that you'll be there."

"Stupid Momo," Echizen mumbled, leaving the room.

"So, will you be sending me into the mountains again?" Sanada asked, smirking.

"Shut up, and do your paperwork," he gestured toward his own paperwork.

Jiroh tiredly sat up, smiling brightly at Sanada. "Atobe and me haven't done anything this weekend. Beside ordering Starbucks. And even that was disastrous."

Sanada's glare levelled with his boss. "Atobe."

"Just do your paperwork."

-------------------

Oshitari and Atobe entered the restaurant, Mukahi behind them, and were seated at the back.

"Why did you drag me here again?" Atobe drawled, angry to have been taken out of his office without any warning.

"We're having a business meeting," Oshitari replied.

"With him?" Atobe gestured toward Mukahi, who sneered at him.

"Well, no."

"Then why is he here?"

"For me," Oshitari said, smiling briefly at Mukahi before turning back to Atobe. His gaze travelled above Atobe, and he said, "ah, he's here."

"Who?" Atobe asked, turning round, to see a man coming toward them. Atobe was sure he'd never met him before, but he definitely recognised his face from somewhere.

"Sorry I'm late," the man said, taking a seat next to Oshitari.

"Atobe, this is Tezuka," Oshitari said. "Tezuka, Atobe."

Atobe stared at him. He definitely knew that name. "You're the guy from Fuji's photo, aren't you?"

"How many people has he shown it to?" Tezuka muttered in reply, half to himself.

"Anyway," Oshitari interrupted. "We're here for business. Atobe, I believe that having Tezuka work for you would be best for the company."

"Oshitari, I've already said no."

"I haven't offered!" Atobe snapped, glaring between them.

"Tezuka, it really would be for the best," Oshitari continued. "You'll be offered more money."

"No he won't," Atobe interrupted, although he was ignored.

"Money?" Tezuka replied. "'There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.'"

Atobe looked up, and stared at Tezuka. "…You know Antigone? Well enough to quote?"

"Sophocles is my favourite playwright."

Atobe snorted, and mumbled, "Aristophanes is better…"

Tezuka didn't reply, and Atobe watched him a moment longer, before sighing. "Fine, you can work for my company."

"I don't want to work for your company," Tezuka answered. "I'm happy where I am."

"Cloud cuckoo land."

Oshitari turned to look at Atobe. "What?"

"It's from the Birds, by Aristophanes," Tezuka explained.

"What?" Atobe asked. "Aren't _I_allowed to quote?"

"Not if it doesn't make sense," Mukahi replied.

The waiter turned up, and placed some food down on the table. "Appetizers," he said, and placed some menus down with them. The group began to eat, until Atobe felt a strange sensation running up and down his leg.

"Yuushi, that's me, not Gakuto," Atobe said, glaring at Oshitari.

"Oh, sorry," Oshitari replied, readjusting his aim.

"If we're done here," Tezuka said to them. "I have prior arrangements."

Tezuka stood, and Atobe said, "wait."

"What?"

"…Do you like to tango?"

"No."

"Oh," Atobe waved his hand at him. "Go."

-----------------------

Tezuka hit another ball, thrown toward him from the ball-feeder, as hard as he could. He'd been neglecting his tennis, with all the madness that had been Fuji, and the mountains, and his piling up of work. Moving a hand briefly to his shoulder, he took it away and continued playing.

"You're a bit stiff, you know."

Tezuka spared a brief glance at Echizen, who was standing behind him.

"I haven't played in a while."

Echizen nodded, watching for a few more minutes. "Y'know, it's better against a person."

"I don't know anyone who plays tennis."

Echizen paused, thinking about this. "You know me."

---------------------------

"Hey, Fuji?" Sanada asked down the phone. "This weekend Atobe is holding a Sponsorship Launch for Echizen, and he wanted to invite you, since your pictures will be up."

There was a pause at the other end. "Can I bring Tezuka?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay, I'll be there," Fuji said, and Sanada gave him the details before hanging up.

Atobe looked up from his work. "Can he come?"

"Yeah, and he's bringing Tezuka - this friend he dragged along to the mountains with us. Y'know the guy in the picture?"

"I - yes," Atobe sat there glaring for a while, lost in his thoughts.

"Hey, Atobe," Sanada asked. "What's the budget for the party?"

Atobe sat there, still staring off into space. "'There's nothing in the world so demoralizing as money.'"

Sanada raised an eyebrow. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Never mind," Atobe replied. "Peasant."

"Pompous bitch."

-------------------------

Tezuka had always believed there was a large gap between amateur and pro. When he was younger, he'd dreamt of becoming a pro, because he thought that being a pro would only make his tennis even better - an invisible force to push him further. Which was what made it so exciting to be playing a pro now, even if the boy was younger than him.

Echizen watched the swiftness of Tezuka's movement, the slicing of his arm, the angle at which his racket met the ball. He'd seen pros do worse, he was sure, but he'd also seen amateurs do better. There was only a fine line between them, after all. Tezuka was proving that to him now. The only thing that seemed to be hindering him was…

"Why aren't you using your arm properly?" Echizen asked, watching him closely.

Tezuka didn't answer, but continued playing, until the ball went far toward his left side. But he couldn't stretch his arm out that way. He stilled himself as Echizen got a further point.

"If you didn't worry so much about hurting yourself you'd be a much better player," Echizen said to him. "Mada mada dane."

Tezuka had noticed that a crowd had begun to gather around them, the other matches stopping to see how the rising star Echizen played when out of the competitions.

Echizen hit a new ball across the court, and the two began playing once more. Echizen hit ball after ball, and Tezuka found himself moving from one side of the court to the other to get them, but noticed that Echizen hadn't even moved from his spot. Trying his hardest to hit the balls far away from the pro, Tezuka only noticed them curving back toward him. He could hear the crowds murmuring around him.

"See that? Echizen's using Tezuka Zone…"

A ball went flying straight past Tezuka as he stopped to look into the crowds. Did Echizen have a move called…? No, he must've just heard it wrong. Going to get the ball, and throw it back to Echizen, he heard the boy ask him, "What do you do? When you're not hiking or playing tennis?"

Tezuka looked back at him. "I'm an accountant."

Echizen seemed to think about this. "Mada mada dane."

And they continued to play.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven**

Sanada growled to himself as he hung up his phone after the millionth call that day. Arranging a party was a lot harder than he'd thought it'd be, especially for the most flamboyant person he'd ever met, who seemed to have very demanding needs.

Storming back into his office, he saw Atobe look up from his desk.

"Ah, good, you're here," Atobe said, before his face fell. "And… is that what you're wearing?"

Sanada glanced down at his jeans and shirt, which he thought depicted smart casual perfectly. "Yeah."

Atobe sighed. "I knew this would happen." He turned toward Jiroh, who seemed to have a pile of material on top of him. "Jiroh. Jiroh, wake up, now."

Opening his eyes, Jiroh glanced toward Atobe. "Yeah?"

"The suit," Atobe held out his hands expectantly. Jiroh pushed the pile of material toward Atobe, who sighed and picked it up. "You will be wearing this."

He held up a brown suit, with a teal tie and a white shirt. "Conveniently, it clashes horribly with your hat."

Sanada looked up at him. "I'm only wearing the suit if I can wear my hat."

Atobe glared at him. "Brown and red don't go, Sanada."

"I have a blue hat."

Atobe continued glaring at him. "Of course you do." He paused. "Fine." He handed the suit to Sanada. "You can change here."

Sanada raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well Jiroh's asleep, and I'm… doing paperwork."

"You never do paperwork."

"Ah, it's true. Fine, use the toilets. The car will collect us at two."

-------------------------

Atobe stood at the door, smiling at the people going toward him. A small, plump man and his wife came in, and Atobe looked expectantly at Sanada, standing beside him with a list.

"Who are they?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Shindou," Sanada whispered at him, and Atobe smiled brightly at the couple.

"Mr. Shindou, how's the golf?" Atobe asked him, and the two chatted for a moment, before they moved on.

"How'd you know he played golf?" Sanada asked him. Atobe glanced back, "Tweed." Sanada nodded in reply, ticking the man off his list.

Two men came in after them, and Atobe smiled at them.

"Umm… Shishido and -"

"I know," Atobe murmured, looking at the two. "Ah, welcome Mr. And Mrs. Ohtori."

Shishido sent a dark glare at him, as the two moved on in.

"They're my private jet pilots," Atobe explained to Sanada.

"Do you treat all your employees this way?"

They were interrupted as another man came in through the door.

"Ahh, Mr. Honda," Atobe greeted him. "How's your wif-"

"Divorced, _divorced_," Sanada whispered harshly at him.

"Ffff- bin? How's your bin?"

Sanada rolled his eyes as he ticked Mr. Honda off the list. "Nice save," he said sarcastically to his boss, as the man went on into the hall. Atobe pinched him in reply.

"Did you just pinch me?"

"No," Atobe replied. "I'm a professional. Professionals do not pinch co-workers in professional situations. Ah, Mr. And Mrs. Oshitari," he greeted Oshitari and Mukahi as they entered, receiving a kick from the red-head.

"I could fire you!" Atobe yelled at Oshitari as they went on through.

"I could quit, and sell my story to the newspapers," Oshitari retorted, and laughed at Atobe's yell of '_Yuushi_!'.

Echizen walked in alongside Tezuka and Fuji, and the group stopped at Atobe and Sanada. Fuji placed his hand on Echizen's shoulder. "Look who we found hiding in the toilets."

"The official meal begins in an hour," Atobe said to Echizen, sharply. "So don't wander off again."

Echizen scoffed, and strolled into the hall.

"And take those hands out of your pockets. And take off your hat!"

"Is Echizen no longer allowed to wear his hat? I thought it was his _thing_."

"I'll give you a thing."

"I bet you will," Fuji said to Atobe, with a wink. "We'll meet you in there later then. Come along, Tezuka."

Atobe glared after them, as they entered the banquet.

"Who invited that… _photographer_?" Atobe snapped.

"You did," Sanada replied, ticking him off the list. "Now play nice, the next guy's a reporter."

--------------------

Tezuka stood by the bar, on his own, taking a sip from his glass of wine. Fuji had left him twenty minutes ago, claiming to be 'back in a minute' and hadn't returned. Glancing around, Tezuka's eyes fell on Echizen, sitting in the corner with what looked like a statue of sorts.

Moving toward him, Tezuka saw that it wasn't a statue, but a pyramid of five empty bottles of Smirnoff; Ryoma about to add a sixth to the top. Tezuka watched him closely.

"Are those… all yours?"

Echizen looked up at him, his eyes slightly unfocused. "Tennis."

"Yes, Echizen, I did play tennis with you."

Echizen nodded. "Mada mada dane," he murmured, before returning to his pyramid. He placed the sixth one at an odd angle on top, and the whole pile fell to the ground. Echizen looked at it sadly, for a moment, before his eye caught an ice sculpture across the room.

"Ice," he mumbled, pulling himself up and wandering off.

Tezuka grabbed his elbow before he could leave.

"Come on, Echizen."

"Tezuka, where are we going?"

"To Atobe."

Echizen pouted. "I don't wanna go to Atobe, Atobe's an _arse_. He was mean to my cat. He didn't brush him! I would've brushed him, but I was in the mountains," he looked up at him. "And so were you."

"Yes, yes I was," Tezuka replied. "Come on, Atobe will be mad."

"Fuck Atobe."

"Indeed."

Echizen pulled back, refusing to move any further. "But we don't have to go see Atobe…" He nestled into Tezuka's chest. "We could find things to do which are _much _more fun."

"Echizen, you're drunk."

"And you're hot."

Tezuka pried the boy off him. "No, Echizen."

Echizen huffed. "What does a guy gotta do around here to not see Atobe?"

Fuji took that opportunity to appear, smiling at the two of them. "Ah, Tezuka, I was looking for you, I just went to have a cigarette outside." He glanced down at the smaller boy. "Ryoma, are you drunk?"

Echizen shook his head angrily whilst Tezuka nodded. "Wait," Echizen pointed accusingly at Tezuka. "I saw that. I'm not drunk."

"We're going to see Atobe," Tezuka explained.

"That wasn't part of the deal!" Echizen wailed. "Tezzzzzzzzzuka… you said if I gave you my body…"

"Oh, really?" Fuji asked.

Tezuka glared at the tennis player. "Echizen, stop lying."

"Oh, I get it," Echizen tapped his nose. "Secret."

"Echizen."

"We'll meet in the toilets… and it'll be wonderful…"

"We're going to see Atobe," Tezuka insisted.

"But… the deal…"

"The deal doesn't exist."

"It can with me," Fuji piped up.

"_Fuji_."

"Fuji!" Echizen said, moving toward him. Tezuka grabbed the back of Echizen's collar, and began leading him away.

"Ah, Tezuka, you're no fun…" Fuji said from behind him.

----------------------

"Sanada, _why _are there yellow roses?" Atobe snapped at him.

"You asked for roses."

"Yes, but not _yellow_." Atobe replied.

"Well, you didn't tell me that."

"I pay you to know!"

Sanada opened his mouth to reply, but stopped as he looked over Atobe's shoulder at the group moving toward them. Atobe turned around, and his eyes grew wide.

"What happened?" he asked, as Tezuka thrust a small tennis player toward him.

"Echizen's drunk."

Echizen looked angrily up at Atobe. "_You_."

"He's drunk? It's been _half an hour_." Atobe snapped, looking at the boy, who was baring his teeth at him. "What did I do?"

"I believe it was his cat," Fuji suggested.

"Oh, for hell's sake, it was just a cat -"

Echizen gasped at Atobe's words. "How _could _you? I don't need your sponsorship! I can make it on my own!"

He began to walk off, but stumbled and ended up falling into Sanada.

"Look," Atobe said, rubbing at his temple. "The dinner's in half an hour, give him lots of water, and we'll get him sober."

Echizen suddenly looked up, a dazed glint in his eyes. "I need the toilet." He pushed himself off of Sanada, and began walking in the vague direction of the toilets.

"Someone go with him!" Atobe said. Fuji smiled and began to follow the small boy. Atobe paused for a moment. "Now, someone follow _him_."

Tezuka went after them, and Atobe sighed. Sanada turned to look at his seething boss.

"We cannot have the boy we're sponsoring drunk in front of all the people that matter!" Atobe snapped. He turned to Sanada. "And the flowers are still yellow!"

Sanada rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Atobe."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight **

As the bell rang to call people to dinner, Atobe looked desperately toward the tennis player he was sponsoring, who was currently being held in place by Sanada. 

"I hear… ringing…"

"We all hear ringing, Echizen," Sanada told him, as Atobe quickly came over. 

"Alright, the original seating plan won't work," Atobe snapped at his assistant. "I'm going to have to move things around a bit. So I'll stay in the same place, in the middle, you at my left and Echizen at my right. But we need someone on the other side of Echizen to control him."

Fuji, who'd been standing next to them, suddenly smiled. "I'd be more than happy to oblige."

Atobe glanced at him, before turning back to Sanada. "See, we need someone who can control Echizen _and _Fuji."

"Shall I get Tezuka?" Sanada asked.

"I think that would be best."

Fuji looked sad, turning toward Atobe. 

"You can sit on Tezuka's other side," Atobe said, waving a hand dismissively at him. 

-----------------------

Sitting down at the table, Sanada glanced past Atobe, to Echizen, Tezuka, and Fuji. 

"You do realise that Echizen is collecting cutlery?"

"Tezuka's handling it."

---------------------------

Tezuka glanced down at the tennis player beside him, who was staring at a pile of knives and forks in his place. 

"Where did you get those from?"

Echizen continued staring intently at them. "Found them."

"Would you like to give them to me, Echizen?"

Echizen shook his head. "I'm going to sell them." He held one of the forks up, grinning. "This is for fish." He dropped it into his glass. 

"Now, it's only for boneless fish," Atobe said to him, smiling slightly. Tezuka glared at him. "What? We may as well _educate _him."

Sanada paused to think for a moment, before looking at Atobe. "Are we even having fish?"

Atobe shook his head. "I believe not."

"Then… why do we have boneless fish forks?"

Atobe looked at him. "Because… you just… _peasant_."

"Stuck up brat."

They were interrupted as Fuji said, "Would you like my fork, Ryoma?"

"Yes!"

"You may have all my cutlery." 

"_Fuji_."

Tezuka set about returning all the cutlery to their original places, ignoring Echizen's hurt look. 

The waiters came out of the kitchen, and began setting soup at every place. Echizen looked glumly at his bowl. 

"I don't have a soup spoon…"

Tezuka looked around. "Where did it go…?"

Echizen sighed. "I can't eat my soup now."

Sanada looked over Atobe toward him. "Use a normal spoon." He ignored Atobe's horrified look. 

"No… I need a soup spoon…" Echizen said, looking sadly at his soup. "Only a soup spoon will do."

"Here," Tezuka handed him his soup spoon. 

"But… really?" Echizen said, taking the spoon.

"Yes, it's fine."

"But, how will you eat your soup?"

"I'm sure a normal spoon will suffice."

"Really?" Atobe asked. "I can call for another spoon -"

"Really, it's fine."

-------------------------

By the time the main course arrived, Echizen had disappeared. 

Tezuka double-took when he noticed that the drunk boy had left the table. He glanced around, before poking Atobe. 

"Atobe, Echizen's missing."

"What?"

"Echizen's missing."

Atobe looked at the empty place beside him with a horror-struck expression. "How?"

"I… don't know."

Tezuka tried to stand up, when Atobe grabbed at his arm. "Don't. You'll make a scene."

"No, I won't. Echizen will make a scene."

Atobe's grip loosened. "That's true, go." he looked at Sanada. "You go, too."

Fuji began to stand up, before Atobe told him to sit back down. Fuji sat, before shuffling up two seats so that he was next to Atobe. Beginning to eat Echizen's steak, Fuji smiled at Atobe. "So, how's business?"

Atobe glared in return. 

---------------------

Tezuka and Sanada caught sight of Echizen leaving the kitchen, and quickly moved over to grab him. 

"Where have you been?" Sanada asked. 

Echizen pointed behind him. "Kitchen." He paused, looking around. "I can't seem to find Karupin anywhere."

"Karupin's not here." 

Echizen looked aghast at Sanada. 

"No, no, he's at your hotel."

Echizen's face suddenly became hostile. "_Momo_."

"No, Echizen," Tezuka stopped Echizen. "I think we need to return to the table now."

"…Why?"

"Because this is your sponsorship launch."

"…And? You were doing great without me. It's all good."

"Echizen," Sanada warned. "If you don't come you won't get any dessert." 

Echizen looked up at him. "But it looked good. We're having trifle."

Sanada raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

Echizen pointed behind him. "Kitchen."

------------------

Once leading Echizen back to their table, and putting everyone back in their rightful seats, a course of sorbet was served to 'cleanse their pallets'. 

"This is so unnecessary," Sanada said, taking a small mouthful of his. 

"But how else will your pallets be cleansed?" Atobe asked him. 

"I didn't realise pallets needed to be cleansed."

"You are _so _uneducated."

Silence reigned for a few more moments, before Tezuka gave a startled expression. 

"Fuji, take your hand off my thigh."

Fuji looked disappointed, as did Echizen. 

"Nobody has their hand on my thigh…" he pointed out. 

"Oh, Ryoma," Fuji cooed, moving his hand toward the smaller boy's leg.

"_Fuji_." Tezuka stopped him, and Fuji rested his hand back on Tezuka's thigh. 

"Well, it's either your thigh or his."

Tezuka sighed, but allowed it, and Echizen pouted to himself. 

---------------------------

After the last course had been served, Atobe stood, and clicked his fingers for silence. The rest of the room obliged, and Sanada found himself amazed by the amount of control Atobe seemed to have on a crowd. 

"Ladies and gentlemen," Atobe began, smiling at all of them. "Thank you all for joining me here today for the Launch of our sponsorship of Echizen Ryoma. As you know…" Atobe delved himself into a long speech about his own company, and himself, with dips of Echizen mentioned on occasion. Sanada wasn't sure if Atobe was being over-extravagant for effect, or to distract the room from realising that Echizen had placed his hand on Tezuka's other thigh, claiming to feel 'left out'. After a full fifteen minutes of this, he gave a bright smile to the public. "And now, if you will proceed into the ballroom, we can begin the party."

On the way into the ballroom, they managed to lose Echizen for a rather panicked two minutes, until he appeared again with a drink of water and more trifle. 

"Echizen," Tezuka said. "Did you go to the kitchen again?"

Echizen didn't answer and turned to Atobe and said, "You have nice cooks."

Echizen sat down, and took a bite or so of his trifle, before some of his water. After a little while, he stood up, and began to move toward the toilets. 

"Make sure he doesn't walk into anyone important," Atobe told Sanada, pushing him after the boy. Fuji sat down in the place that Echizen had just left, and began to dig into the remainder of his trifle. After this, he took a sip of his water, before giving it a very bemused expression. 

"This is vodka."

The other two turned to stare at him. Atobe smacked his head. "Oh God, it's already half empty."

"Or half full," Fuji pointed out, moving to take another sip before Tezuka pulled the drink off him. 

Just as they thought things were at their worst, Sanada appeared, without the tennis player. 

"I… lost him."

"He was right in front of you!"

"I know. And then he just… wasn't."

Sighing, Atobe rubbed at his head. "I guess we'd better go look for him."

----------------------

Because separating into two teams seemed the most productive way to find Echizen, Sanada and Atobe went in one direction, whilst Tezuka and Fuji in the other, and began to look for the lost, drunken tennis player. 

Turning off into yet another corridor, Atobe and Sanada saw that this one was, as all the others were, empty. 

"How big is this place?" Sanada asked, as they moved on down into the next corridor. 

Round there, at the end, they saw Echizen looking confused at a much larger man, who had his arm wrapped around him. 

Atobe raised his hand, before pausing, and turning to Sanada. 

"Mr. Honda."

"_Mr. Honda_!" Atobe yelled at him. "Your wife's out th-"

"Divorced, remember, _divorced_."

Atobe froze. "This is _why _your wife's not out there!"

Sanada, rolling his eyes, moved toward the man. "Let go of the boy. _Now_."

The man slowly snaked his arm away from Echizen, and began to move out of the corridor, back toward the party. Atobe glared at his slowly retreating figure. 

"Echizen, are you alright?" Sanada asked the tennis player. 

"He touched my butt."

"I know, I know," Sanada said, beginning to lead them out of the corridor. "Shall we head back to the party now?"

Echizen nodded, and as the three turned the corridor they saw Tezuka and Fuji moving toward them. 

Fuji, catching sight of Echizen, raced toward him, grabbing Echizen's face. Smiling, he pulled Echizen's lips toward his own, and thoroughly kissed him, whilst the others stood there, too shocked to move. Pulling away, Fuji looked victorious. 

"It _was _vodka."

"Fuji! We knew that already!"

Fuji shrugged. "There's no harm in checking." Echizen just stood there, dazed. 

---------------------

Once returning to the ballroom, Atobe excused himself from Tezuka, Fuji and Echizen to go make small talk with the rest of the guests, dragging Sanada along behind him. Standing in the middle of the room, Tezuka kept his eyes on Echizen, who seemed to be amusing himself by playing with a bottle top. 

"Can you keep an eye on him while I go get him some water?" Tezuka asked Fuji. 

"Like the water he had before?"

"No, no, Fuji; _real _water."

"Ah, very well," Fuji said to him, smiling. Tezuka moved toward the bar, and asked for a glass of water. Turning back, he realised that he'd made a very, very stupid mistake. 

Fuji and Echizen were gone. 

--------------------

"Yes, it was a pleasure to see you again too," Atobe said to yet another guest, as they began to move away, and he and Sanada continued mingling with the guests. 

"Why did you invite this many people?" Sanada asked him, as they continued going through. 

"Because it's necessary to publicise what we do," Atobe snapped back. 

Sanada was rolling his eyes, when he caught sight of someone he knew across the room. "Yukimura," he mumbled, heading toward him, before stopping himself. He was working, he didn't have time to go and chat with people he knew. Turning back, however, Sanada realised that he couldn't see Atobe. 

-----------------------

Atobe continued moving through the crowd, when he suddenly felt somebody pinch his butt. Turning around, he was face to face with a taller, broader man than he, and realised that Sanada wasn't at his side to help him. 

"Oh, hello," Atobe said, cursing his assistant. Who was this guy anyway?

The man took another step toward him, and Atobe took a step back. "I'm a reporter," the man said, stepping forward and grabbing Atobe's wrist, so that the man couldn't move further away from him. "And I've been told to investigate you." He leant down to whisper in Atobe's ear, "_All of you_."

Atobe growled and shoved him away, but before he could say anything Sanada appeared, punching the reporter right in the jaw. The man fell to the floor, unconscious. Atobe looked sharply at Sanada, who looked back.

Suddenly he became very aware that they were in the middle of a crowded room. "Sanada, we're gonna need a clean up crew."

Sanada half-smiled, half-smirked back. "I'll get onto that."

----------------------

Realising that Fuji and Echizen were no longer in the ballroom, Tezuka walked down a corridor, and began peering into each room that he passed. He had no idea where he was, Atobe's house seemed to go on forever, and he was sure he'd reached the bedrooms by now. 

Turning into another bedroom, his eyes widened and his breath hitched as he caught sight of Echizen lying flushed and shirtless on a bed, Fuji straddling him. 

Fuji turned around, with a smile. "Ah, Tezuka. Care to join us?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine**

"Yeah, can you get someone over there soon?" Sanada said down the phone, leaning against a wall as he did so. He glanced over to see Atobe standing in the doorway, watching him. "Yeah, that's great. Okay, thanks."

He hung up, and slipped his phone back into his pocket. "They're on their way now, to clean up the mess."

"Okay," Atobe replied, before pausing for a moment. "You were late, y'know." He waited for Sanada's reply, but when it didn't come, he continued. "Where were you?"

"I saw someone I knew."

"What? Here?"

"…Yes."

Atobe looked startled. "You know high class people? Apart from me?"

"I know one high-class person. Kind of," Sanada replied. "It's not that big of a deal."

Atobe seemed confused. "Did you work for him too?"

"No," Sanada glared. "You know, it's possible for me to know high class people all of my own accord."

"You just don't seem the type."

"I have high class friends."

Atobe rolled his eyes. Sanada's glare darkened. "Well at least I have friends," Sanada said to him.

"I have friends!" Atobe snapped.

"You never go out except for business dinners, and you spend all your time talking to me or Jiroh, and he's sleeping most of the time."

Atobe stormed up to him. "I have a life outside of work."

"No, you don't."

Atobe knew that Sanada was probably right, but there was no way he was going to admit this. "Well who do you spend your time with? You spend your whole time with me."

"That's because _you're _so high-maintenance. You call me in the middle of the night, to pick out clothes."

"It was an important business dinner!"

"Yeah, in like two days!"

"At least I don't wear a hat _all the time_."

"At least I don't have a stick so far up my arse I can't wear hats unless they have _feathers _on them."

"You - you… _you_…" and Sanada growled, leant forward and grabbed Atobe, pulling him toward him.

Atobe's eyes widened as their lips met, and he completely froze. Was he…? Suddenly Atobe felt Sanada's tongue pressing against his closed lips, and slowly he parted his lips, and let Sanada's tongue slip in. Atobe was beginning to melt into the kiss, when he felt the taller man's hand grab onto his arse. Shocked and a little annoyed, Atobe grabbed at the hand and pulled it back round to his side, and grasped Sanada's arse. Sanada smirked into the kiss.

Atobe blinked at a sudden sensation against his thigh, and his eyes widened toward Sanada. Pulling off, he asked, "Are you… vibrating?"

"It's my phone," Sanada replied, pulling it out of his trouser pocket and flipping it open.

"Oh… right," Atobe said. "Who is it? Clean up crew?"

Sanada was looking at it confused. "No… it's Fuji."

"Did you give him your number?"

"…No. Apparently, something's up with Echizen and we need to come help him sort it out. He says they're in a vulgar pink bedroom on the ground floor."

Atobe looked insulted. "_Vulgar_? I designed that room myself, it's pleasantly pink. It has the finest, home-made quilts shipped over from Switzerland, and the curtains…" he trailed off as he saw Sanada watching him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

Sanada rolled his eyes. "Doesn't matter. C'mon, let's go find them."

As they walked off down the corridor, Sanada reached out to place his hand on Atobe's arse. At first, Atobe batted it away, but then grabbed it and put it on his waist. Sanada snaked his other arm round and began to rub it gently against Atobe's waist, who shivered at the touch. He hit Sanada's hand away, but then reached around and pinched Sanada. The two glared at each other as they turned round the corridor.

--

Sanada's arm around Atobe once more, the latter directed the two toward the room Fuji had said they'd be in. Giving a brief knock, Sanada pushed open the door, and his eyes widened at the sight in front of them.

Echizen was lying on the bed, Tezuka straddling him, and Fuji was getting up from kissing Tezuka.

"Ah, Sanada, Atobe, how nice of you to join us," he said, with a smile. "We were just getting started, if you wanted to join too?"

Sanada and Atobe glanced at one another, and Atobe said, "I'm not nearly drunk enough to do this."

Fuji gestured to the side table, laden with drinks. "Want to get drunk enough to do this?"

Atobe and Sanada shared another look, before Atobe smiled, and Sanada kicked the door closed behind him.

--

Tezuka groaned, as once again Atobe's foot collided with his shin.

"Tezuka. _Tezuka_!"

Growling, Tezuka opened one bleary eye, and glanced up at the man looking down at him.

"What?"

"Last night… did we…? 'Cause we did right, didn't we?"

Tezuka sighed and closed his eyes tightly. "Fuji."

"Yes, Fuji; and Sanada, and Echizen, if you will recall, who are all now gone," Atobe paused, looking around for a second. "I mean… there were five of us, right?"

Tezuka nodded, and sat up, growling slightly at the pain in his butt. The pain in his butt? He wouldn't think about that for a moment.

"Yeah, there were five of us."

"I just… I don't get it," Atobe said, looking around. "I understand Echizen; he's young, and probably relatively confused. And his arse must _really _hurt." Tezuka nodded in agreement. "So I get Echizen, but Fuji's the one who put us all together, and Sanada has to stay here to help me with cleaning up the party..." He froze. "The party. _Shit_."

Standing up, he grabbed at his mobile phone, and saw that it had eighteen missed calls, from various people. Swearing again, he began to grab at his clothing.

"I cannot believe I left the biggest party of the year for a five-man orgy," he said frantically, pulling up his trousers. "We were meant to be launching the new face of our company… who wasn't even there! 'Cause he was here too!" He glared at Tezuka as he buttoned up his shirt. "You weren't even drunk!"

"Please, you were barely drunk," Tezuka replied as a flustered Atobe began trying to straighten out his hair.

"I was obviously very drunk, Tezuka!"

"You must have a very low alcohol tolerance. I swear I only saw you have one drink."

"Well, maybe I do."

Atobe jumped as his phone started ringing, and he walked through the door, answering it as he did so.

"Yes?"

"Last night, you either did Sanada or Tezuka 'cause neither of them were at the party," Oshitari told him. "People were asking after you, but don't worry, I covered. So you now have a very contagious rash, by the way."

Atobe growled into the phone. "Could you not have said something less embarrassing? Like I had a family emergency?"

"No," Oshitari replied. "So was it good last night?"

"No… I mean, no."

"It was bad?"

"No, just, last night wasn't… I mean, it wasn't… it wasn't!"

Oshitari sounded amused. "Okay, okay. Gakuto and me in your apartment last night also wasn't."

"Yuushi!" Atobe stormed down the corridor, wanting to just get out of the damn mansion as soon as he could.

"So what actually happened last night?"

Atobe sighed. "You have no idea."

--

Looking around, wondering what he had just done, Tezuka glanced at the clock - saw that it was just coming onto half eight - and slowly got out of the bed, beginning to get ready for work.

--

It'd been two days since the _incident _happened, and Sanada still hadn't come into work.

One day, Atobe had allowed off. He could let Sanada have that day. But now he was on his second day without a viable assistant, and his caffeine system was crying out to him. He'd had so much to deal with, with the aftermath of the party, and the reasons why the two main people of the party had just disappeared, and trying to explain to people that his rash had cleaned up just fine and no, he was no longer contagious.

Atobe glanced at the phone. He couldn't call Sanada, that'd be like… giving in, or something. There was no way he could just call Sanada.

Glancing at the phone again, Atobe sighed, and picked it up, dialing Sanada's mobile number into it. He paused a second, waiting for the ringing, but instead a recorded voice told him that Sanada's phone was currently switched off.

"Why would he turn it off?" Atobe mumbled, suddenly thinking that maybe Sanada was going out of his way to avoid him. Growling, Atobe pulled open his desk drawer, and began searching for Sanada's CV. His home number had been on there, Atobe knew it had. There was no way Sanada could just avoid him forever.

Finally finding it, Atobe dialed the number, and waited for the dial tone, and then for it to ring. He almost expected this to be turned off too, but it rang, and after just a couple of rings, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

Atobe stopped for a moment, wondering why Sanada hadn't answered his home phone. "Is Sanada there…?"

"Um… Sanada doesn't live here any more," the woman on the other end told him.

"Do you know where I could find him?"

"I'm sorry I can't. I don't know where he moved to."

"Was it out of the city? Did he move out of the city? It wasn't _that _drastic."

"Err, yeah, okay. Bye."

The woman hung up, and Atobe dropped his own phone down. Sighing, he rested his head in his hands. Sanada had turned off his phone and ran away from the city. He must've told someone he knew, but Atobe didn't know any of his friends…

No, Atobe did know one of his friends. The one who'd been at the party. Atobe knew them, and Jiroh had to have invited him, as Sanada didn't know they were going to be there. Well that had to narrow it down.

"Jiroh," Atobe said, throwing a book at the sleeping assistant. "Jiroh!"

"Ow," Jiroh looked up at Atobe. "Why did you do that…?"

"How many people did you invite to the party?"

Jiroh lay back down. "I dunno. Like… five."

"Who?"

"I dunno…"

"Jiroh, who did you invite?"

"Like… the first five people on the list…"

Grabbing the list of people out of his desk drawer, Atobe looked at the first five names.

Well, the first was fifty years old, and didn't even live in Japan, so Atobe could rule him out. Two of them were women, and Atobe could not see Sanada knowing any women, so he thought he could probably ignore them. That only left two men, both in their twenties. They were both definitely plausible.

One of them was Tachibana Kippei, who had been an old family friend. But Tachibana hadn't been able to make it on the night, which left only one. Yukimura Seiichi.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten**

Tezuka sat at his desk, typing the day's figures out into his computer, when he glanced up at the clock. It was gone noon, and Fuji still hadn't turned up with his coffee. Sighing, he stopped typing, knowing that he wasn't concentrating properly. Pulling out his newspaper, he opened it, and began to glance at the articles, but he was barely reading them too.

He hadn't seen Fuji in the last two days, and he was actually beginning to worry. Fuji wasn't the kind of person to just disappear without notice, he was the kind of person to turn up after orgies just to rub it in that he'd arranged them. It was especially strange that he'd left straight after…that night; he was the kind of person who'd stay to make sure that everyone else stayed, and end up making them have another big gang bang just for the sake of it. Tezuka had been shocked to see that he wasn't there.

He'd also felt kind of disappointed. A part of him had wanted them to all wake up together, and for Fuji to encourage more outrageous sexual experiences. He'd almost hoped for it. Instead he'd woken up to a frantic Atobe, and then he'd been left alone.

And what was happening with Atobe now? And Sanada, and Echizen? Were Atobe and Sanada just going about their average day as if nothing had happened? Had they seen Echizen at all? They must have needed to, to try and arrange more things about his sponsorship.

Looking back down at his paper, he flicked through to the next page, and saw one of the men he'd just been thinking about in a giant picture, right next to the heading 'Echizen smashes opponent in first round of US Tournament'.

"Ah, so that's where he's been."

--

Dialing the number next to Yukimura's name, Atobe waited for the man to answer. There was a moment, before a woman said, "Hello, Yukimura-sensei's office, can I help you?"

"Ah, yes, can I speak to Yukimura please?"

"Can I ask who's calling, please?"

"Atobe Keigo," Atobe told him. "Tell him it's urgent."

"Just a minute please." Some background music began to play as Atobe was put on hold. It was classical, and Atobe suddenly had thoughts of both Sanada and Tezuka, but tried to remove them from his mind. There was another moment, before the phone clicked in his ear.

"Yes, Atobe?"

"Do you know where Sanada is?"

Yukimura paused for a while, obviously differing over whether or not to tell Atobe where he was.

"So you do know where he is, then?" Atobe persisted.

Yukimura sighed. "I'm not sure if I can really tell you."

"Come on, Yukimura," Atobe asked. "You have to know where he is, so why can't you just tell me?"

"It's not my business to tell."

Atobe stopped, and rested his head back onto his hand. "Well, okay, can you just tell him to get back to work soon then, because… I need… coffee."

He was about to hang up, when Yukimura said, "Wait, Atobe. He's up here, at the hospital."

"What? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, it's just his grandfather."

"…His grandfather?"

"Ah. So he didn't tell you."

"Didn't tell me what?"

"Just, come down, Atobe. I'll meet you here."

And with that, Yukimura hung up the phone. Atobe stood up, and pulled on his jacket.

"Alright, Jiroh, man the phones."

Jiroh raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well… fine, _don't _man the phones. Doesn't matter…"

Once Atobe had stormed out of the office, Jiroh rested his head back down, mumbling a weary, "I hope he gets Sanada-san back."

--

Atobe turned up at the hospital and looked around, confused. Yukimura had definitely been in the Neurological Diseases section, but where? There were loads of offices, which Atobe kept poking his head into, before moving onto the next. Eventually he found Yukimura.

"Ah, Atobe, this way," Yukimura led him out of the office, and down toward the wards, and then on into a private room. Knocking quickly before opening the door, Sanada looked up from where he was sitting, and glared at Yukimura.

"Traitor."

Yukimura smiled. "I'll leave you to it."

As Yukimura left, Atobe glanced to the old man asleep in the bed beside Sanada, who was clearly Sanada's grandfather.

They were silent for a moment, before Atobe said, "So… is this why you left before morning?"

"No, actually," Sanada replied. "I left, and then Yukimura phoned me a few hours later."

"Oh. So you just… _left_, then?"

Sanada shrugged and looked away. "It wasn't like I was the only one. Fuji and Echizen were gone when I woke up too."

"Well, Echizen's in a tournament in the USA, and Fuji's Fuji," Atobe said, sitting down beside Sanada. "Who knows where he is. It's just… I kind of expected you to stay." Atobe paused. "And you didn't even stay to clear up the party. And at no point that evening did you remind me that there was a party downstairs that I needed to be at."

"Sorry, I was doing _other things_."

Atobe mumbled, "I pay you to remind me about these things. And why did you turn your mobile off? And why aren't you living at your old home anymore?"

"You're not allowed mobiles on in hospital," Sanada answered. "And I sold my apartment."

"You live in an apartment? You don't have a house?"

"No."

Atobe seemed confused by this. "But I have loads of houses. And you have one apartment. Which you sold. Why, anyway? Where are you living?"

"With Yukimura."

"But… why would a five man orgy prompt you to sell your apartment?"

"That's not why," Sanada retorted, glaring at him. "I needed to get the money for my Grandfather's operation."

"… Why didn't you just ask me for the money?"

Sanada looked up at him, before looking away again. "I wanted to pay for it myself, and I could, so I did."

"Yes, but now you don't have a home."

Sanada glared at him.

"Why didn't you call me? I'd have given you some leave, and you could've crashed at one of my houses," Atobe said. "I have five in this city. Is this because of the orgy?"

"Yes, partly."

"Well, you can't admit that it wasn't good." Sanada raised an eyebrow at him. "What? It's true."

"It doesn't make it any less awkward."

Atobe turned to look at him. "But why would you be acting strange with me about it? Even if we hadn't gone off and had an orgy, something was going to happen with you and me anyway. We were making out before it."

"Well that's… different."

"How so?"

Sanada rolled his eyes at him. "Atobe, there's a difference between being in a couple, and being part of a five-some with your boss. There just is."

"Only… a bit."

Sanada raised his eyebrow again, but couldn't help but smile. "If Fuji hadn't texted me, do you think we would've slept together?"

Atobe stopped to think about it. "Yes."

Sanada nodded. "Me too."

"Right," Atobe stood, as if readying himself to leave. "So you'll be coming back to work, then?"

"Well, my Granddad's surgery's tomorrow morning, but I should be able to come back in the day after."

"Good," Atobe turned to leave, but stopped by the door, and turned back round. Moving quickly over to give Sanada a soft peck on the lips, but when he leant down Sanada pulled him in for a deeper one. The two held for a moment, before Atobe pulled off, looking flustered.

"Okay… I'll see you… the day after tomorrow, then?"

"Right."

"Err… Okay. Right. Yes." And Atobe quickly hurried himself out of the room.

--

Momo stood at the side of the courts, watching as Echizen hit ball after ball against the wall as hard as he could. He'd been like this ever since the night of the party, when he'd returned home at five in the morning, telling Momo that he couldn't wait until the afternoon, he needed to get on the soonest flight to America. He'd thrashed his first opponent, but the rest of them wouldn't be so easy, and Momo was beginning to worry about the boy.

His tennis had been faultier than usual, erratic at best. It could work at his advantage - throwing the opposition off guard; or else it could cost him the match. And Echizen definitely didn't need that happening.

Momo wondered what had actually happened to the boy. He'd heard that Echizen had disappeared just after the meal, and hadn't been seen since. He'd also heard that Atobe - the main host of the event - had been absent too, and Momo suspected that something was up. But he knew there was nothing he could really do about it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter eleven**

Oshitari knocked on the door, before letting himself into Atobe's office, where he saw Atobe sitting at his desk - flustered by the paperwork on it - and a sleeping Jiroh.

"Sanada's getting coffee then?"

Atobe glared up at him. "_Mocha latte_, actually."

Oshitari watched Atobe continue his work, and Atobe looked back up at him. "Is there anything else?"

"So it's Tezuka then?"

"What?" Atobe asked.

"Well, Sanada's back and you're still not completely happy," Oshitari explained. "So that way it had to have been Tezuka."

"I don't see how this is any of your business," Atobe retorted.

"Well, I'm in a meeting with him in an hour," Oshitari said. "You can come, if you want?"

Oshitari left the room, and a few seconds later Sanada entered, carrying Atobe's mocha latte and his own tea. He noticed Atobe standing, and heading for the door.

"Where are you go-"

"Come on, Sanada," Atobe said, taking his latte. "We have a meeting to go to."

--

Oshitari sat down opposite Tezuka, and Tezuka noted that it was a four-seat table.

"People will be joining us later," Oshitari explained, and Tezuka nodded, as he picked up the menu.

Soon after, they got down to business, discussing the work of their latest project. Tezuka ordered a meal, but Oshitari didn't. Tezuka rose an eyebrow at him, but Oshitari was staring over his shoulder, smirking. The man stood, and left Tezuka with a simple, "we'll talk later".

Tezuka glanced over his shoulder to watch Oshitari leave, and also saw why. Entering the restaurant was Atobe and Sanada, giving a brief nod to Oshitari as they passed, and went to sit at Tezuka's table.

"Hello, Tezuka," Atobe said to him, brightly, as he took his seat. Sanada nodded curtly at Tezuka, before sitting down himself.

There were a few moments of silence, as Atobe pondered over the meals on the menu, and Sanada sipped from a Starbucks cup. Tezuka looked between the two, wondering if either of them would start talking soon. "What are you doing here?"

Atobe looked up, "Apparently not being served." He turned to wave over a waiter, and told him, "We'll have three of these." He pointed to a dish on the menu, before glancing at Sanada. "They're good, don't worry."

"I've already ordered," Tezuka said, and Atobe glared at him.

"Fine. _Two _of these." He paused. "And some champagne."

The waiter nodded, and walked off, and the awkward silence returned once more. Without a menu to distract him, Atobe was watching Tezuka, sitting uncomfortably in his chair. He turned briefly to Sanada, and glowered at him. "Take off your hat. This is a nice restaurant, Sanada."

Sanada glared at him, but didn't remove his hat.

"Take it off. Sanada, off. _Off_."

Atobe leant forward to try and take it off, but Sanada pressed his hands to his head, and pulled away. Atobe glared at him, before turning to Tezuka. "I presume you know where Echizen is."

"New York," Tezuka answered. "Why are you here?"

"I'm glad you asked," Atobe replied. "Do you know where Fuji is?" Tezuka looked blank, and Atobe continued. "I thought not. I had someone phone Fuji's office, and he's on leave, but they don't know where."

"When did you get someone to call?" Sanada interrupted.

"When you were getting the car to come here," Atobe replied.

"But… who…?"

"Jiroh."

Sanada raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"It would seem that he wakes up when we leave the room," Atobe answered. Before they could continue, the waiter came back with a bottle of champagne, and poured a bit of it out into Atobe's glass. Atobe took a sip, and looked up at the waiter, "Yes, that's fine." The waiter poured the rest of it out, and then another waiter appeared behind him with their food. He placed a plate of spaghetti bolognaise down in Tezuka's place, and two plates of oysters before Atobe and Sanada. Sanada looked down at them with a look of disgust, before turning to glare at Atobe.

"They're really quite tasty," Atobe explained.

Sanada took another look at the slimy things on his plate, and began to poke at them with his fork.

"Stop that," Atobe snapped. "It's bad enough that you're wearing a hat."

Sanada glared at Atobe again.

"They don't serve _burgers _here, Sanada," Atobe said, beginning to eat his own oysters.

Sanada watched Atobe for another moment, before picking up his fork and taking some of Tezuka's spaghetti.

"So do you have any ideas of where Fuji would go to?" Atobe asked.

Tezuka shook his head. "He never said anything."

"Any person he'd go to?"

Tezuka stopped eating for a second, and thought about it. Fuji never mentioned any friends, but he had spoken about his brother.

"Fuji Yuuta," he told the other two. "His younger brother. He's a tennis player, I think."

"Excellent," Atobe said. "We have a lead. Sanada, get onto finding out about this Fuji Yuuta."

Sanada glared at him. He stood, and gave a nod in goodbye to Tezuka, before walking out the door.

Tezuka continued eating his spaghetti, watching as Atobe got through his oysters. He waited a moment, before asking, "Why are you doing all of this?"

"I thought that was pretty obvious," Atobe said, completely calm, as he continued working his way through his meal. "Sanada got it."

"Humour me."

Atobe looked up. "Because I wanted to bring us all back together."

"You want us to do it again?" Tezuka asked him. "Look, I'm not going to just go along with some rich guy's whim because he wants me to."

"And you don't want to?" Atobe asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "You know that we all fit together. There's five of us, so we shouldn't, but we do. We don't work on our own, we work better as a group. So I want us to get back together."

Tezuka looked at him, and Atobe looked back, before his phone went off. "Hello?"

"Fuji's brother's at the same tournament as Echizen," Sanada told him. "They're playing each other tomorrow, actually."

"Right, where are you?"

"I'm in the car. Come out."

Hanging up, Atobe threw some money onto the table for the food, and stood up, Tezuka following in suit. Walking out into the car, Sanada was waiting - eating a sandwich.

He pushed the laptop toward them. "See, he's in New York. I assume that's where Fuji will have gone to."

"Then that's where we'll go too," Atobe said, and Sanada nodded.

"I've already arranged your private jet. We're leaving in an hour."

Atobe nodded, half-smiling at Sanada, when Tezuka decided to interrupt.

"I can't go. I have work."

"So do we," Atobe replied. "You don't see that stopping us."

"Yeah, because you're the boss, and you're his boss," Tezuka retorted. "I've used up all my vacation days."

"Phone in sick," Sanada said. "Say it's a family emergency or something."

"They need me there."

"Well, maybe Fuji needs you in New York," Atobe said. "Besides, it's all arranged. You're coming now."

Tezuka nodded, giving in. He supposed he was going whether he liked it or not.

--

Arriving at the airport, and cutting through to where his private jet was situated, Atobe nodded at Shishido and Ohtori, his two pilots.

"A bit of notice would have been nice," Shishido muttered.

"Oh come on, you barely work anyway. How often do I really use this jet?"

"That's not the point," Shishido snapped in reply, he and Ohtori leading the way onto the plane. The other three led their own way on behind, Tezuka and Sanada with quickly packed rucksacks and Atobe with four large suitcases - Sanada pulling two and Atobe pulling the other two.

"I don't see why you need this much," Sanada said to him.

"Well, we don't know how long we're staying there."

"We're not staying long," Tezuka said, climbing up the steps into the aircraft.

"We may have to," Atobe replied. "We don't know the situation that made Fuji leave in the middle of the night."

Sanada nodded. "Maybe he left for the same reason I left, and Echizen left."

"No, because this is Fuji. He would've stayed and made sure everyone else stayed."

"We just have to tell him there'll be another five-some and he'll get straight on the plane," Tezuka said.

Atobe thought. "Maybe."

--

The match with Fuji Yuuta and Echizen had been going for a while now, and Echizen was behind. Not by a great amount, but by more than he would have liked. Every so often he glanced at Fuji - who was standing, watching Yuuta - but not once did the older man look his way. Echizen grew slowly more and more frustrated, and confused, wondering why Fuji wasn't even giving him a quick look. They'd slept together, hadn't they? So why wasn't he paying him any attention?

He felt kind of hurt about it. He knew that he shouldn't, and so he got steadily angrier, and his game declined. He could feel Momo's eyes on him, but he ignored it.

He got up to start the last game of the fifth set, and watching as Yuuta was about to serve. He looked quickly to his right, and standing there he saw Sanada, Tezuka, and Atobe, watching the match. He froze, staring at them. Why the hell were they there? As he thought this, a ball went flying past him, and the umpire announced, "15 - love to Fuji."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter twelve**

Echizen watched as the three of them moved round to join Fuji, before diverting his attention back to Yuuta. He wouldn't miss this serve. They were all here now, and they wouldn't have just shown up for fun. They'd come to find them.

Lowering his cap slightly over his head, Echizen watched as the ball swerved toward him, and hit it back. He was picking up his game now. He met the rhythm of the ball and continued hitting it, curving the shots, until he gave one final hit, and it landed just out of Yuuta's reach.

"15 all," the umpire announced, and Echizen smirked to himself.

"Mada mada dane," he said, and Yuuta glared at him. Yuuta glanced over to the side, where his brother smiled and waved at him, before quickly looking away, and returning to the game.

--

Sanada, Tezuka and Atobe stood beside Fuji in silence for a moment, as they watched the match continue. Echizen was picking up now, and they turned back to Fuji, who was still standing there in silence.

"Why did you leave?" Tezuka asked him, at last, and Fuji turned back to him with a smile.

"I'm sorry. I meant to leave a note, but it must've slipped my mind," Fuji replied. "I got a text from my friend, Saeki, saying that Yuuta was in trouble. So I came."

Atobe glanced back at Fuji's brother. "Well, he seems fine now."

Fuji nodded absently. "Yes, he does."

There was silence for a moment, until Sanada sighed and said, "Fuji, come back."

"You have to understand," Fuji answered. "That over here, Yuuta isn't a normal tennis player. He's famous, but not for his skill. His boyfriend - Mizuki - is a famous fashion designer, and Mizuki's always in the limelight - so Yuuta's dragged in with him. But the other week Mizuki was drunk at a party, and he got angry, and hit Yuuta." he paused, for a moment. "From the very beginning I told Yuuta that Mizuki was no good for him, but then he stopped talking to me. He wouldn't take my calls. That's why I changed my field to celebrity photography," he looked briefly at the other three. "It was the only way he'd talk to me; the only way he'd see me."

They paused, and Atobe said, "You have to let Yuuta make his own decisions."

"No," Fuji answered, instantly. "I'm staying here. You can take Ryoma, I'm sure he'd be happy to go with you; he's probably feeling a bit insecure because I haven't spoken to him. So it'll be easy to bring him back to Japan, if you just explain everything."

"Don't be stupid," Sanada retorted. "There are five of us, Fuji. Echizen wouldn't be happy without you, or Atobe, Tezuka definitely wouldn't and hell - neither would I."

They looked at the courts, and saw that Echizen and Yuuta were shaking hands. "It looks as though Yuuta's lost," Tezuka remarked, and Fuji nodded.

"I'm going to go talk to him."

He was leaving, when Atobe said, "You can still come back. When you're done talking." But Fuji didn't seem to be listening.

--

Echizen and Yuuta walked out of the courts, when Fuji suddenly appeared, and went off to try and speak to his brother. Echizen watched the two of them moving to the side, before glancing back to where Sanada, Tezuka and Atobe were standing.

They were all looking at him, so Echizen lowered his head and began to walk off in the opposite direction.

"Echizen."

He didn't turn around, but stopped as Sanada grabbed his arm, and pulled him round. The three of them were looking down at him, and he kept his head lowered.

"What?"

"We've come to talk to you," Atobe said, grabbing at his chin to make him look up at them. "We wanted to know if you're coming back with us."

"Why would I want to do that?" he snapped. "I thought you came here to talk to Fuji."

"We came to talk to both of you."

"Well I don't want to talk to you," Echizen replied, sulkily.

"Well too bad," Sanada said. "We want to be back in Japan as soon as we can, and we plan to have both you and Fuji with us when we do."

Echizen glared up at him. "I don't want to go back to Japan with you."

Tezuka suddenly leant down toward him, and pressed his lips briefly against Echizen's, before pulling away again. Echizen turned bright red. "Ryoma, come back with us."

Echizen glanced up at him, before lowering his head again, and glaring at the ground. "…Okay."

"Right," Atobe said, looking in the vague direction that Fuji had walked off in. "Three down, one to go."

"Where's Yuuta's changing room?" Sanada asked Echizen.

"Just down here, c'mon."

--

Echizen peered into the changing rooms. "…Fuji?"

"Yeah," Yuuta said, turning round the corner, fully clothed. His brother didn't seem to be with him, and Echizen led the other three in behind him.

"Do you know where your brother is?" Tezuka asked, and Yuuta looked at the four of them.

"Why?"

"I saw them standing with him during the match," another voice said, and Mizuki walked out from round the corner, clad in a purple shirt and skinny-fit jeans. Yuuta looked at the men thoughtfully.

"Are you the ones Aniki met in Japan?"

"You've been talking to your brother?" Mizuki asked, and Yuuta shifted, uncomfortably.

"Just a bit," he looked up at Mizuki. "He was worried. About last week."

Mizuki rolled his eyes, and rested his chin on Yuuta's shoulder. "You already gave me hell for that when we got back to the hotel room."

"Yes, we are the ones your brother met in Japan," Tezuka interrupted. "We wanted him to come back with us, but he won't. Because of you."

Yuuta sighed. "I've already tried making him go back, but he won't."

"Do you know why he takes pictures of celebrities?" Atobe asked, and Yuuta shook his head.

"For a living? He likes photography."

"But he doesn't like celebrities," Tezuka said. "He likes taking pictures of mountains, and scenery, and the outdoors."

Yuuta looked at him. "So?"

"So, he only takes pictures of celebrities so that he can take pictures of _you_," Atobe explained. "Because you wouldn't talk to him otherwise."

Yuuta shifted. "Whenever I did talk to him, all he said was that Mizuki was an arse, who's using me, and stuff."

"Then talk to him about it," Echizen suggested. "Just do it in the next few days, before the tournament ends. Do it now."

The others looked surprised that Echizen was giving advice and Tezuka half-smiled to himself.

Yuuta sighed, "Fine."

--

Fuji sat in his hotel room, waiting for room service to come. He looked through the photographs he'd taken lately - the various shots of Echizen, in front of the sunset and sunrise; Tezuka climbing up onto the mountain ledge; Sanada looking at his phone; and most recently one of Yuuta playing tennis. He didn't have one of Atobe, he thought. If he'd had more time he would've gotten one. There was nothing he could do about it now, though. Placing them back down, he heard a rap at his door, and stood to get his dinner. Opening it, however, there wasn't a hotel worker, but rather his younger brother.

"Yuuta -"

"Aniki," Yuuta said, looking down at the floor. "You need to go back with them."

--

Sanada groaned as he pulled another one of Atobe's huge cases onto the jet, glaring at his boss as he did so.

"Don't you have people to do this?" Sanada asked, and Atobe smiled.

"Yes, you." Sanada glowered at him, as he pushed the case away into the storage cabin. Looking around, and noting that that was the last one, he turned back to Tezuka, Atobe and Echizen.

"We don't have to go back right now," Echizen said. "The tournament's over, but we can still track down Fuji."

"I need to get back to work," Tezuka said.

"And we need to arrange your sponsorship," Atobe added. "We'll come back soon, and look for him again. But we can't do anything with him if we don't even know where he is."

Echizen looked disappointed, as he took his seat, and fastened his seatbelt. Atobe was just about to do the same, when a member of airport staff entered the craft, turning to him.

"Atobe, sir, there's someone here to see you," he said, and Atobe glanced out of the jet, to see Fuji calmly walking toward the plane. Smiling to himself, he watched as Fuji waved at Yuuta, who was standing beside a scowling Mizuki - waiting by the side - before climbing up the steps and on board.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, putting his case down on the floor. "I just wanted to make sure that Yuuta was okay."

"That's fine," Sanada replied, helping him put his case into the storage compartment. "Glad you could join us."

Fuji smiled, and sat down next to Echizen. "Hello, Ryoma," he said, and he placed his hand on the younger boy's thigh.

Echizen glared at him, but didn't remove it.

"_Fuji_," Tezuka warned, as Sanada and Atobe also took their seats.

"What?" Fuji asked innocently. "Do you want me to touch your thigh too, Kunimitsu?"

Tezuka rolled his eyes, and leant back on his seat.


	13. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"Granddad, this is Tezuka," Sanada said to his grandfather, gesturing toward the stoic man beside him. His grandfather nodded briefly in reply, before Sanada continued. "He knows how to play Go."

"Ah," his grandfather said. "I have a board just over there, if you want a game?"

Tezuka nodded, and went to get it, beginning to set it up, as Sanada watched - an amused smile on his face.

"So, what do you do?" Sanada's grandfather asked him.

"I'm an accountant."

Sanada's grandfather looked up to him. "It doesn't suit you. You should change professions."

"That's what we tell him," Sanada agreed.

"It brings in the money," Tezuka said.

"Don't tell Atobe that," Sanada told him. "Last time I said that to him he tried to buy me a house in Vienna."

Tezuka half-smiled, and began his game.

* * *

Echizen continued hitting the ball against the wall, watching it come back and then hitting it again. It seemed, though, that every time he moved he was blinded by a bright flash. Turning to glare at Fuji - standing at the side talking photographs - he said, "Do you have to do that now?"

"But you look so lovely when you play," Fuji said, smiling brightly at him. "It's like poetry in motion."

Echizen glared at him. "Fuji, _go away_."

Fuji produced a flask from his bag, and held it out toward him. "Coffee?"

* * *

Atobe looked through the CVs on his desk, glancing briefly at each before moving onto the next. From his desk, a sleepy Jiroh looked up.

"Why do we need another assistant again?"

"Because you sleep all the time, and Sanada only got this job to pay for his grandfather's surgery, and now that that's over, he's going back to teach Kendo."

Jiroh nodded, dozily. "Where's he living again?"

"He is living in one of my houses," Atobe answered, flicking through yet another CV.

"Along with Tezuka, Fuji, and Echizen?"

"Yes, along with them," Atobe answered, irritably. The door opened, and Sanada walked in, Starbucks cup in hand.

"Latte?"

"Yes, yes, thank you."

Sanada turned to leave, when Atobe said, "You know, you don't have to do that anymore."

Sanada shrugged and walked out, as Atobe smirked at his retreating back.

* * *

Tezuka glanced up from his work as Echizen walked in, a plastic cup in his hand. He placed it down on Tezuka's desk. After a moment's silence, he muttered, "Fuji's busy today, so…"

Tezuka smiled. "Thanks."

Echizen nodded stiffly, and walked out.

* * *

Atobe was sitting in his library, focused on the novel he was currently reading, when a flash obscured his vision. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes. "_Fuji_."

"I just needed another one for my collection," Fuji replied, with a smile.

Atobe growled, and mumbled something that sounded like, "I wasn't even dressed for it…"

He returned to his book, when a whiff of smoke made him look back up, to see Fuji taking a drag from his cigarette.

"I told you not to smoke in here, or at all."

Fuji smiled at him, and stubbed it out in a nearby ash tray. He went and sat down next to Atobe, nestling his head against him. "I know. That was my last one."

* * *

Atobe, Sanada, Fuji and Tezuka stood with the rest of the spectators as Echizen's match continued. He'd reached the semi-finals, and looked as though he was going to storm through this round too.

Fuji took another picture, and looked back as Atobe spoke.

"Alright, I get why Fuji's here," he said. "He's taking pictures of Ryoma. And I'm here because I'm sponsoring him, Tezuka's here because he's interested in tennis, but why are you here, Sanada? You're not my assistant anymore."

Sanada looked toward Echizen, before turning back toward them. "Because of us."

Tezuka smiled at the words, and Atobe shifted, and there was a flash of a camera as Echizen hit a blinding winner past his opponent.

"I guess that's a good enough reason."


End file.
